I dropped my kids off at school Monday morning after a long Christmas break with a lot of family together time. (Whether togetherness always counts when 5 or more of us are absorbed in some screen or other is up for debate.) But it was a fun break, and seeing it end got me all sentimental, and kind of weepy.
When my son who’s a freshman disembarked from the family boat (our enormous Suburban) I found myself sniffling. Then I looked to the east and there was this incredible pink and orange and grey sunrise, and then to the west where a pink glow hit the snows atop the mountain that guards over our little valley, and I felt like, yeah. It’s going to be okay. There are compensations. This is a new day.
Anyway, sentiment. I am just plain full of it.
So, everybody’s making these New Year’s Resolutions. Mine was to just keep running. I had to resolve this because, frankly, I’ve been getting a little tired of it. My route is starting to bore me. The songs on my MP3 are seriously, seriously old news. I can’t think of any new songs or albums to add, since I’m not much of a music buff (although I’d gladly take suggestions.) And the whole process was getting stale.
And thennnnnnn, I remembered.
Librivox.
What is Librivox? It’s audiobooks recorded by volunteers. All books are in the public domain. They’re free to download as MP3 files. This means there are classics and classics and classics available for the listening—if I’d just take the 15 minutes and load them onto my little $18 MP3 player.
Yes! Why didn’t I think of this before?
So, now I’m happily plodding along, absorbed in the story Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (of North and South and Wives and Daughters and Cranford fame.) I don’t even see the same dull houses or potholes I was started to despise. I’m too busy worrying whether Mary will ever get together with Jem Wilson or not.
It’s bliss.
I’m saved!
This is such a great thing, and I hope someone reading this will click over to librivox.org and find some listening pleasure for as you drive or run or work or whatever. It’s like a beautiful sunrise after a gloomy thought. There are compensations. This is a new day!
