I'm Going to Marry a What?

I never thought I'd have to face this dilemma in my life. I never thought I would marry a man who didn't like to...READ! But here I am, just over a month away from marrying the man I love so much. The man who gave me the chance to find myself and loved me the whole time. But you see, reading is important to me and the people in my life. I mean really important. After all, I'm a writer. My daughter is a writer (and a very talented one). Every member of my family loves books and reads for fun more often than not. So, what do I do now? I finish reading a book and I'm excited. I write a book and I"m excited. A friend writes a book or suggests a book to me and I'm excited. I share that excitement with the man I love and he just sits there and says "great" while staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

Well, when I first found out he wasn't a reader, many years ago when we were just friends I figured I could turn him into one. But now that we are living and loving together, I'm not so sure it will be possible. He just doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't understand how amazing it is to live in a different time, to meet people that you never would in your real life. He doesn't know what it's like to live vicariously through books. I would sit day after day and try to figure out what it was. Why he just couldn't accept books like he does his movies and TV shows. He loves TV and movies. So, finally, I started to read to him and I noticed one key thing. Within a couple of pages, his ears turned off and he was bored. I mean really, how can you stay interested for three hundred pages when your mind closes down after just a few.

I've thought about why that might happen. You know, why he can watch a movie but not read a book. I guess maybe he's not able to visualize the magic of words. Or maybe the length of a book scares him. He knows his show will be done in an hour or in a half hour or in two hours, but he has no idea how long it will take to read a book. I guess it could be anything. He's very smart and is a great reader but fiction just doesn't seem to do it for him.

After doing some research, I'm guessing his ADHD has something to do with it also. He does get bored easily, even with the gaming that he's addicted to. And as I've told you before in a previous blog, he can't listen to a full song to save his life. So, am I giving up? No, I would never do that because being a reader is one of the greatest things on this earth. I want him to explore other worlds with me. I want him to read to our kids if we have any and enjoy every aspect of every story.

So, what are my plans? Well, first of all is to get his ADHD under control which will be a battle that I might not win. But after that, I don't know, maybe I'll write a story about a gamer who gets pulled into his game and goes on a grand adventure. I mean that would even make a good YA series don't you think? I think the biggest obstacle will be in getting him over his aversion to reading. I think maybe it somehow scares or intimidates him. Only nerds read, right? He'll find out his perception of reading is wrong and I can only hope that he will someday join me in a world of books. After all, his future wife is a voracious reader and a writer who loves and celebrates every good story.

Until Next Time...