Eli the reader

As kids we read a lot.  No, really, I mean a LOT.  Some of my most vivid early memories are of libraries and reading:

• The Lexington library and how it seemed to have carpet everywhere
• The massive downtown library that smelled.. Historic (in a good way)
• The scary and official process of checking out a book (what was that caThunk or flashing light about anyway?  
• Mrs. Kane, the gradeschool librarian from whom you did NOT want to get the 'late book' chat regardless of her being one of your friend's mom.. 
• Discovering the Tintin series in the children's room downtown
• My sister "winning" a book for having read more than anyone else.  Guinness Book of Records.
• The fact that church and the library had many of the same rules was not lost on me.  Quiet, reverent, beautiful architecture.
• I remember how cool we thought Amy Carter (the president's daughter) was because whenever her parents dragged her along to an official event, she always seemed to be somewhere in the background reading a book.

So it thrills me to see Eli so completely engrossed.  In this picture he's taking those lost few milliseconds in the family morning routine to catch a few pages of his current book.