Seems to me that my darling hubby's and my life get busier and fuller with each coming year. The months fly by with our barely realizing they are here and gone. Except for birthdays and our appointments we rarely have time to take note of the dates on the calendar. These years are when we're supposed to think about taking it easy and smelling the roses. Instead, we're racing along as though we're just starting out. Trouble is we're having too much fun to stop and pull back. For just a moment this past summer we had the opportunity to do just that. We had four quiet days where e-mail was non-existent, faxes were dead, our cell phones were disabled, and we were held captive in one place. We were on a train crossing from Vancouver, Canada, to Toronto. The scenery was magnificent but after a few hours of looking out the window at the awesome mountains, clear clean lakes and miles and miles of stands of birch trees, the scenery seemed to meld into an endless lovely picture. It wasn't long before we pulled out our books from the extra bag we take on trips for just such leisure moments.
Reading books has always been my favorite way to pass the time, even as a young child. Any child who is reading easily by third grade is a reader for life. When I went to school we were expected to do just that by the time we left second grade. It was a skill never to be regretted. It's horrid to realize how few of our children today will ever realize that wonderful ability to go anywhere within the framework of their minds just by reading words off the pages of a book and using a bit of their imagination. Reading enlarges our lives as nothing else can.
Unfortunately, free time is in short supply in my life so my desire to read at least one book a week is a constant challenge that doesn't always get realized. That doesn't mean I've lost my passion for reading. It's as if a friend I regularly visited moved a bit farther away, making meetings more difficult but not less desirous.
Reading is still number one on my list of things I want to do when I get the time. So it stays perennially on my wish list file. There's a delight in making wish lists. My mate and I are constantly adding to our list. Therefore, we're never bored when we have time on our hands. Whenever there's an empty space in our lives we take advantage of it.
Taking the train across Canada was something we had wanted to do for some time. It was on our wish list. It's exciting to be able to cross a line through wishes fulfilled although our list is so long we would have to live several lifetimes to accomplish them all.
This year when the opportunity presented itself to go on a long train trip across Canada we quickly took advantage of it. My husband's publisher wanted him to do a book promotion there. So we decided a train ride, instead of an airplane, was a much easier way to travel in these days of endless security checks and lines at airports.
During our train ride everyday distractions disappeared. The only exercise we got was walking to the dining car and opening our mouths, even when we weren't hungry, for three full meals a day. Our minds expanded along with our tummies. Now the trick is to delete the fat on our bodies and keep what we put into our minds. Let's hope it's not the other way around.
(Write Barbara Bova at the Naples Daily News, Features Department, 1075 Central Ave., Naples, Fl 34102 or e-mail babova(at)naplesnews.com)
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