A True Love Affair

I discovered it in the fourth grade. Mrs. Twitchell was getting ready to start reading a new book to the class. We'd just finished Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. I could totally relate to poor Peter Hatcher. I had a younger sister who thought that just because she was my sister, she had every right to do everything that I did. It was annoying to say the least.

I went to a small public school - small town, akin to Mayberry of Andy Griffith fame. I didn't think it was odd at all that my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Twitchell, read aloud to us. As a matter of fact, I thought it was great! I still do. I would say that there should be more teachers like her now, but there aren't any that I know of. So, I'll say there should be teachers like her, period.

Anyway, the next book on the list was Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. I'd never heard of it. I had no idea that the book was a bit young for us but that Mrs. Twitchell loved it so much she couldn't help herself. She had to share it with us. Also, I was terrified of spiders, so I wasn't thrilled with anything that had the word 'web' in the title, but I sat and listened as always and that's where it all began.

While sitting in that classroom on a huge braided rug in the makeshift corner library, lovingly created by Mrs. Twitchell, I fell in love with words, words like terrific, radiant, and humble; words I'd not heard before, or more probably, not cared about. I was fascinated by this story. I became Fern. I was transported to this farm. I was as confused, and frightened by the barn as poor little Wilbur, the runt. Not only did I not care that Charlotte was a spider, I adored her. She was so intelligent, so wise, so calm, and yes...even beautiful.

From that moment on, words fascinated me. I wanted to know what everything meant. I couldn't absorb enough vocabulary. I read daily. The muscles of my imagination began to bulge and ripple with very little effort. By the time I left the fourth grade, I'm sure I'd read every book in that corner library in Mrs. Twitchell's classroom. That story, that make-believe story of a pig and his best friend the spider, opened the door to what has now been nearly a twenty-five year love affair with books.

Years later, as I was leaving home for the first time - off to California, the other side of the country, the other side of the world for me, I asked my mom to pick up something for me to read on my trip. I was nearly twenty years old on that day and a voracious reader of Stephen King novels. He’d just released a new book and I assumed mom would know to get that one. As I was rushing off to start my trip, mom handed me the book she'd gotten me, Charlotte's Web.

I still have that very book. I read it on my trip that day and I’ve read it at least once each year since. It's a reminder of where it all began, my love of language.

Thank you, Mrs. Twitchell. Without you, who knows what I'd have fallen in love with.

Fourth grader 1980-1981