Savor: (v) to give oneself to the enjoyment of.

'Saturday rain' has never been my favorite word couplet. But today it is. The skies were so thick and steely gray that it was easy to sleep a little longer, and relish the freedom of a day without scheduling.

It was a privilege to get up and watch as Paul made breakfast, all of us deciding to make it a book day-- which means a run to Barnes and Noble, roaming aisles filled with the glorious smell of new paper. It was a privilege to have a hot beverage to soothe a sore throat, and relish its flavor as we read through long lines of type. To leaf through thickly-bound books, and then slowly run fingertips along a row of hardcover spines. To turn the corner, and see our children doing the same thing, just at a shorter height.

I love that our children love books. Well, I love it most of the time, anyway. Some days I get frustrated when I have to call them three times to come empty the dishwasher, and I don't like when Joel delays homework so that he can finish one more chapter of his Hardy Boy book. But I love to see Connor's fervored concentration, the ruffle of his brow as he gets deeply involved in a plot, even if it is of the elementary 'Berenstein Bears' variety. I love that when they get money for their birthday, their request is to head to Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT to get their latest favorite. Some days I am rather irritated when I'm tripping over the books that Nora left laying on the floor, or I find myself picking them up off of the chairs in the sunroom. And it doesn't thrill me when I find books out on the driveway next to a camp chair, or sliding around under the seats in the car. However, I do like the fact that we have to move the little bookcase out of the living room, just to make room for a bigger one, because the other case is overflowing onto the hardwood floor. I do love that they can sit for hours and learn new words, or take a little journey through time to a different era just by turning a page.

I relish our trips to the bookstore, all of us together, yet so separate in our search for something that calls to us. Sometimes it's Grisham or Montgomery, Whitman or Frost, even F.W. Dixon or Peggy Parish. It can be fiction or history, biography or classic literature, but it all pulls us in, and makes a day of grey rain not only bearable, but pleasurable. Couple that with the fact that Starbucks has released their pumpkin spice latte, and we had the makings for a lovely, long day. And as I roamed the aisles sipping at the smoothness of the drink, I couldn't decide what I savored more-- the delicious smell and taste of the tall-whipped-cream-nutmeg-cinnamon-spicy-pumpkiny goodness in hand, or the fact that our children love books as much as we.

I think it's the latter.





Rain, rain, don't go away. Not yet. Because I'm savoring today.

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."

~Anna Quindlen