Idyllic Studies

I am in first grade. It is summertime, and I’ve just come from outside. My skin is a russet brown, bruised and scabbed from days spent outdoors. In fact, it is still warm from my recent dance with the sun.

I’m lying on my stomach in the doorway of our guest room. The door is open to the hallway outside, which is open to the foyer below—the drop guarded by a wooden banister.

Little would the reader know, this was one of my favorite places in our 7-person home. With the door open, positioning myself at the entrance, I could hear everything that happened in the house while remaining cloaked in the privacy of a forgotten room. As one of four children, I, even in privacy, liked to hear when one of my siblings was around in case I was struck by the urge to play.

But today, I know I am alone, and the house is quiet. I crack open my book, taking a moment to admire the gold-painted edges and heavy weight of the pages. I scan the page that I marked with my tassel-adorned bookmark. I find the last sentence I read and focus my eyes on what’s next.

It was in moments like these that our dark, half-heartedly decorated guest room transformed into something else. It was not just a room—it was a world that I could visit, spend time in, explore. The guest room was where my four siblings and I congregated from our two bedrooms (boys and girls) to listen to my dad tell us bedtime stories. On great adventures we went in that room, so naturally that is where I went to read.

I lie there for hours, or maybe it is minutes. Time is difficult to measure when you’re in another world. Eventually, the sun goes down and my mom calls me for dinner. Hungry, I bookmark my page, jump up, and trot downstairs, knowing I’ll be back again soon.

Twenty four years later, I truthfully don’t remember what it was I read in that book, which was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgsen Burnett. It is one of my most cherished books, but I couldn’t name a single character or plot point. I may not remember what happened in that book, but I remember what I experienced while reading it. It was happiness.