I was born poor with a hardworking daddy, taking care of 6 kids by himself. My mama left when I was 18 months old, and I was pretty much raised by my oldest sister. She read the Bible to me at night, and by the age of 5 or 6, I could read some, too. I was so excited when she told me that I was going to school, but a little frightened of what that meant. There were many adjustments for me there, such as indoor toilets, water fountains, and kids I didn't know. The days flew by, and one day, our teacher said, "This is our library day." I really didn't know what that meant. I got my reading material from the junk piles people left on Daddy's land. I cut my teeth on True Detective and Modern Romance magazines that I hid from Daddy. Lol.
The library was a spiritual experience. I had never seen so many books in my life, and we were allowed to check out 2 books to take home to read. I checked out East O The Sun West O The Moon. I read of a faraway Prince riding a horse up a glass hill to win his love. I read a tale of a prince transformed into a white bear, and I fell in love with the bear and the book. Many years later, I searched for the exact same book that I had read. I couldn't find it anywhere. One day, I bought a box full of old books at a garage sale. They were a dollar, and I didn't bother to see what the books were in the box. For a dollar, who cares? When I got the large box home, I looked at the books, and there on the bottom of the box was my book. I couldn't help but cry. I was so overcome that the book had found me. Here is the book of my childhood dreams. I still love it today as much as I did then because it's wrapped up in childhood memories. Years later, a sweet cousin, Anne Ruhala painted me the cover to my wonderful book. ❤️
