Several weeks ago, Polly, the boys, and I gathered with some friends for a good, old fashioned family time. As everyone arrived, the adults talked while the children, excited to see each other in a setting other than school, ran back and forth from the living room to the playroom to Austin and Adam’s bedroom. Before too long, we all settled down in the living room on the couch or the rug. From the kitchen, we brought in several more chairs until we were all seated.
We wanted to read to the kids.
What would it be like to spend an evening the way families did long before television or video games or even radio. Years ago, groups of people would get together and read aloud for entertainment.
Could this be done today? Was it possible to slow today’s child down enough to experience an evening without a television or a telephone? Would they even listen? We wanted to find out.
I was the designated “reader” and chose a couple of stories from my newest book, Return To Sawyerton Springs. Amazingly, those two stories turned into three, then four, then five—until the moms overruled the cry for more and called bedtime. Saying goodnight, we began to realize that the group ranged in ages over far broader a spectrum than one might expect to see anywhere else doing the same thing together. From seven to well over seventy, we were children, parents, and grandparents—and we had a blast!
Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought you might want to listen in. So join us in our living room. I am sitting in the blue chair that Polly usually reserves for company, my back is to the fireplace, and I believe we begin on page 81. Are you comfortable? Okay, here we go. “Whoooooo stole my golden arm….?”
