Fiction

I couldn't sleep last night. It's been quite a while since I haven't been able to fall asleep within 3 minutes of my head hitting the pillow. I used to be plagued by insomnia. Anything would set me off, pregnancy, coffee after noon, something at work, something at home. But since having Finleigh...I've been able to sleep really easily. Perhaps it comes from almost never sleeping in (which my husband graciously allowed me to do yesterday). My brain just didn't want to turn off last night. I was wide awake.

So, I came downstairs, turned on my Waterscapes CD (having lived on the West Coast for 8 years, there are times in the dead of winter that you just HAVE to hear rain noise) and pulled out a book to read. Last summer, I found a Jane Austen collection at Costco for $20. It has 6 of her books in it and is ridiculously big. It's about 12 inches wide by 18 inches tall by 4 inches thick. It's beautiful and has been sitting on my shelf since we got it. It's a little difficult to read because the lines are so long, but I don't mind...it's Jane Austen and there's just something about Jane Austen that I love. Perhaps its her sense of irony or her keen perception of people or her character development or the romanticism of the time. I dunno, I just get lost in her world. I'm reading "Mansfield Park" for the first time.

I don't read fiction often. I had to give it up in college because once I start a book, I can't put it down until it's done. I just don't have the self control. In high school, I would sit and read instead of studying...I would even hide a novel inside a text book and pretend to study. As a mom, I've found that reading a novel gets in the way of being a good mommy. But, I've decided that my son needs to see me reading something other than the computer screen or grocery store fliers. So, I'm going to attempt to fit it back into my life without letting it take over my life.

Who knows...if I can eat chocolate in moderation, perhaps I can read in moderation too.