It's a bookmark thing...

I love to read.

I love to lose myself in different times and places, to disappear into worlds of wonder, to live in a reality I might otherwise never know.

And as much love as I have for books... I have also for bookmarks. For as long as I've collected books, I've also collected bookmarks. One of the greatest disappointments of my life was that all but three of the bookmarks I had collected up until I was sixteen had been lost along with my collection of 8-track tapes in the move back to Thunder Bay, but it didn't stop me from starting my collection all over again.

The only few childhood bookmarks I do still have are the ones I kept in my Bible... I promise you this is NOT meant to be a 'preachy post' in any way, shape or form but feel free to skip over my Bible bookmarks if you wish to! I'm just so grateful to still have and use them every day after so many years that I just can't possibly leave them out.

This little plastic bookmark has yellowed around it's edges over the years but it
happily marks the verse I like to remind myself of every morning:
"And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing."

This little shepherd is a little bent and wrinkled from over the years but
still holds another important place for me...

I would actually like to talk a little about my 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.' bookmark because I'd had it for many years before I really found honest meaning in it, and it was all thanks to a movie. I think I've mentioned before how my dad loved westerns and not only introduced me to but got me hooked on them, too... Anyhow, this bookmark had been with me since I was little; I used it and read the message each time I did, I had spoken the words aloud countless times in Sunday school and during Sunday church services afterward each week so I knew the words well. But the first time I ever watched Pale Rider as a teenager with my dad, the words of Psalms 23:1 finally became real to me. In the movie, as Megan recited the Psalm she also questioned it, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want... but I do want....." and on she went. And as soon as she had started I felt an immediate relief because what she said was what I also felt. Here was this young girl, the same age as me, going through the same crushing angst in learning, with the same questions, even in different time and circumstance, speaking her worries and confusion of the very same passage aloud. Sure I knew it was just a movie script but I also knew that someone had written those words for her to say and that meant that I wasn't alone in my own wanting to 'not want' when I 'did want', which up until that moment had always left me feeling unexplainably torn. And once it became real to me that my fears of not measuring up were just that, fear, it opened me up to understanding that it's okay to question because it has helped me to gain so much more in gratefulness. I had used that bookmark for many books up until that day I first watched Pale Rider but now it sits in mark of that Psalm to always remind me of the confirmation I found on that day. It also constantly reminds me of that day spent with my dad and that is a memory I never want to forget!

And then there's this little raccoon who finds a different place each morning when
I read my "What would you have me read today...?" passage.
And believe it, or not, but this bookmark is an old 'Nite-Glo' bookmark that still,
after all these years, continues to shine in the dark.

I just, for some reason, feel like every book deserves a worthy bookmark and a big part of the whole perfect reading experience for me (as geeky as it sounds) is in choosing the perfect bookmark. So, when my newest book was delivered yesterday... I just couldn't wait to get to the bookmark box!

It never fails to surprise me just how much joy lifting the lid from my little bookmark box brings me; it's the beginning of a brand new adventure every single time I do. Although I have quite a few choices waiting inside the bookmark box, sometimes the right one just isn't in wait and I find myself in need of a new one. Usually, if I head out to my workshop I can find a fabric that feels right to make a bookmark with but if it turns out I need to shop for one, I do... because I want every book I read to feel it's own specialness, as ridiculous as that may sound.



I love all kinds of bookmarks... for every marker, there is a book somewhere in wait!

But then there are times like today... when the finding is super simple. I immediately went for the fabric bookmarks, it just felt like this book was in need of a homey, fabric bookmark and as I flipped through my ready-made choices it was the red one that called to be chosen. I trusted my instinct although even as I pulled it from the stack, I questioned the red... but only until I laid it across the cover.

It really is the perfect bookmark, I feel... the dark, almost burgundy-tinged red
matches perfectly with both the checkered spine aaand it also brings out
the glowing blueberry jelly hues in the top of the pictured jelly jar!

I know it's silly but I also know my love for both books and their markers is something that matters to me. Somewhere within the choosing I find what helps me get settled in for a true escape to a whole new space of comfort waiting in the pages that will gratefully whisk me away. Do you have any silly rituals to help you get ready for a perfect getaway into a new book adventure? Maybe you're as dedicated to bookmarks as I am? Or, maybe you prefer to fold over page corners?