One thing (among many) I'll never do!

When I was in junior high, my best friend Quinn and I picked up some old-school badges from the library with a picture of Cat in the Hat on it and the words "I love to Read" in red.

I really don't think that I was into reading that much back then, but I know I had a few favorite novels that I enjoyed. The whole badge thing was just a way to be silly and goofy, as Quinn and I were prone to be. After bringing the badge home, I immediately stuck it on my red and black plaid Jansport backpack (another weird thing I had as a teenager). I wore it proudly on my backpack until the beginning of high school.

Today, the badge is sitting on my desk along with a few other sentimental items I've picked up over the years. It means something. The words "I love to Read" have come to be kind of a moto in my life, in the last five years, especially.

I went to college to read. In ascertaining my English degree, I had to read. All of my homework entailed reading. I was labled a book nerd by many, and secretly, I felt I had found my one true passion.

I read in the bathtub; I read in my bed; I read while walking to school (the number one sign that you're a book nerd); I read while eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner; I also read while watching tv.

I really thought I had read everywhere.

Until yesterday.

I drove to the gym yesterday (yeah, I am a full-fledged member of Gold's Gym!), and was going along side of a cute little red Honda. The female driver had on a colorful beenie, dark sunglasses, and had two long braids falling onto her shoulders (why I was able to see all these details while driving is a tad scary to me).

As I was admiring my driving buddy from my dirty little Subaru, I noticed she kept looking down and something. The conscious driver in me wondered What on earth is she looking at? How unsafe!!

Just before turning into my gym of choice, I took one last glance at my buddy in her cute car and realized what she was doing, what she had been hiding through our whole journey.

She must have been a book nerd too, because in her hands she held a worn, yellowed copy of one of my favorites, "The Grapes of Wrath."

That's one place I'll never read, no matter how good the book is.