Childhood stories

I feel like I have a pretty good memory of my childhood. I remember friends, parties, different toys and vacations, all those sorts of things. Some of the memories that have stuck with me the longest have had to do with reading stories. I remember listening to my Grandma Carroll read stories to us on a casette tape since we lived so far away from her. I remember my mom reading stories out of two books that were hers as a child--I am pretty sure one was orange and one was green, but that's about all I remember! Oh, how I loved all those stories!

My dad read stories to us, though, in a way that has changed stories for me permanently. I loved Winnie the Pooh and he would read me those stories in the best Pooh and Eeyore and Tigger and Roo voices. There was a way that he read One Monster After Another, and Where the Wild Things Are, and A Giraffe and a Half that I can still hear in my head today. I know I would still love to curl up with my dad and listen to him read those stories. Of course, it has made it hard for me to read those stories to my kids because they just don't sound right when I read them!

Certain stories and books just stick with you and when you find them, you make certain your kids get to experience them too. David's scout troop was doing a book exchange at their last pack meeting. I was browsing the books before the boys got up there and stumbled upon one of those books. It was the Noah's Ark book that I loved as a kid! There are really no words, just amazing illustrations that I remember looking at so many times in my childhood. The very best part of this particular copy is its smell. It has that musty "I have been packed up in a basement on the east coast" smell. Having grown up in New York, that smell alone made this book feel like it was actually my old copy!

David was a sweetheart and made sure he got it in his exchange, and now I get to sit and pour over these fantastic illustrations with my kids and feel like one all over again!