...And Just One More Thing...

I just heard that Peter Falk died.  I have seen a few Columbo episodes, and he certainly was wonderful in them, but I do believe I'll always remember him as the grandfather in Princess Bride.  I'd always wanted to meet him, but I knew he was pretty old.  In his 80s, it turns out.

I wonder if Princess Bride would have been so popular now.  For instance, the set-up!  The kid's at home sick, and of course playing a video game.  Sure, an old 8-bit, but a video game nonetheless.  So at least that part would be shared by today's kids.  But what I was talking about was the reading aloud.  I adore being read to, even now.  Audio books are nice, but there's something so cozy when it's someone you love, right there beside you reading.  I read to Michael sometimes.  It had been a long time since he could see and hold a book well enough to return the favor.  But I'm so glad we shared that love of books!

It was really a blessing that my family all car-pooled together while I was growing up.  Both parents were teachers, so we all packed in to head to school.  I remember freezing mornings in old Mr. B, the '66 Pontiac LeMans.  Later on, there'd be a procession of trucks, big things that had to do farm duty after the school run.  Dad picked super-cabs so that us kids had a seat in the back rather than all cramming on a front seat.

And each morning, Mom would read to us while Dad drove..  Not just kiddie books, either!  We covered Dickens, James Herriott, Agatha Christie, all sorts of books!  It served to get more classics into our heads, expanded vocabulary, interesting discussions when a book finally concluded, all sorts of benefits of 15 minutes a day of reading aloud.  When my fifth-grade teacher read "A Wrinkle in Time," it was all I could do not to get it from the library and read ahead!  The whole class was enchanted, or at least stayed quiet enough not to bother the ones who were.

Would kids today get that?  Or would they just ask why not put an audiobook on an iPod or read it on a Kindle and why bother Grandpa to read it aloud to them?  I hope they would understand why.  It's a gift, an expression of love, to carefully choose a book and read it aloud.  And it doesn't matter what age you are, you can enjoy it.  Even just the funnies from Reader's Digest, if that's all the time you have.

I'd best get back to reading "Much Ado About Nothing."  Now there's a good read-aloud, even if it is just to the puppies.  The bard knew what he was doing with the language!