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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Before they were movies......

Growing up in my house, my dad was a little overbearing. I think it had a lot to do with the responsibility that he was shouldering. The man had nine kids and worked two jobs to help pay for our upbringing. In the evenings, he would come home and the tension would just be thick as soup. But when it came to dinner time (and we ate as a family most always), he liked to read to us. My dad considered himself a scholar and being a member of Mensa, I'd have to say he was pretty smart. He desperately wanted to pass that intelligence along to all of us. He was demanding. So, after finishing his meal, he would settle in and read us chapters of a book at a time. I remember him reading J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit", and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. He even did the voices. How he kept all the voices straight from dinner to dinner was amazing. It was one of the neatest regular family events we had. SO long before they were made into movies, my siblings and I knew all about Frodo, Bilbo, Gandolf and all the others. Somehow those moments shared between my father and us got missed in the early teen years between my kids and I.

7 comments:

Diane said...

That's SO cool. I don't remember being read to, though I'm sure I was. I still read to Ryan and I hope she'll let me for a long, long time.

Kate P. said...

So sweet. I wish I could remember stuff about my childhood. I can almost bet I was never read to though. :(

That Janie Girl said...

That is awesome.

KatBouska said...

Wow! That's so awesome. He sounds like a pretty smart man indeed!

Claremont First Ward said...

What wonderful times those dinners must have been. How long would he read per sitting? Just curious. You know, trying to emulate a mensa member here. j/k.

Jennifer P. said...

I always like when you come to leave a comment at my blog--thank you! I enjoy having a male perspective from time to time :)

Reading to your kids--love it! We've plowed our way through some pretty heavy classics here (Animal Farm, Robinson Crusoe, Carry On Mr. Bowditch), and my kids always seem to know that no matter how grumpy mom may be during the day---reading time will always be calm and happy. I'm glad you had that with your dad too. And don't beat yourself up for not sharing that with your kids. I'm almost certain there was some other thing you did that bonded you to them that they will always remember.

Stu Pidasso said...

Diane - I am sure that you and Ryan will share the good moments for yers to come!

Qui Qui - Rehash with your siblings..or come here to Texas and I'll read to you.

Janie - it was way cool! I wish I'd done it with mine.

MamaKat - he was....now he's just brain food for the worms. Just kidding dad!

Angie - He would do about thirty to forty minutes worth and find a good stopping point.

Curl Girl - I like reading your blog. I'll come around again soon.