Love of Words
Upshaw, Theresa (2009-04-22)
>>THERESA UPSHAW: I don't remember what my favorite book was as a child. I do, however, remember writing stories from a very young age and then drawing pictures to illustrate my masterpieces. Usually, the drawings were of princesses wearing very long gowns because I couldn't draw legs very well at that time. 
>>THERESA UPSHAW: I remember going to the library and working my way through the stacks, either through a particular topic or a particular author, until I was all the way through that particular subject or author. I have learned things from books that I would never have known otherwise. I have travelled to foreign places. I have learned about butterflies in the region where I live. I have learned the back stories of famous historical characters from history. 
>>THERESA UPSHAW: Books have been my escape and my solace. Though I rarely read the same book a second or third time, books have found me when I needed them. I read my way through my depression after my divorce from my first husband. I have read myself into my current spiritual explorations. 
>>THERESA UPSHAW: I have read that books are becoming extinct, but I have read that same news for quite some time now. The new technologies are tangled up in text, though I don't garner that same warm, fuzzy satisfaction from holding my Blackberry as I do a bound book. I do miss letters and writing letters. Language is capable of magic, of wisdom, of romance, and laugh out loud comedy. Any word can be a favorite word. I read and I am there, transported in time and space. How cool is that?