Recently, while cleaning, I found on a shelf one of those record yourself reading books. I had forgotten we had this book. My mom recorded it many years ago when my children were small.
I opened the book and heard my mom narrating it with my children chiming in. I’ve talked before about books being portals to different points in time, but none compared to this moment. I was swept into the book listening to their little voices and my mom’s patience while they interrupted the story. Time was frozen inside those pages.
When my mom recorded that book, I thought it was sweet. In this moment finding it, that book became one of the most priceless gifts. I got to travel through time. While we remember being read to and reading to our children, those aren’t usually the moments we record. We tend to record the big moments…. school talent shows, sports, recitals, holidays. This recorded book was one of those moments that fell in between those big moments. It was a regular afternoon, it was reading a book, and I’m so lucky my mom recorded it.
As I listened to it, I took phone video of the pages and started texting them. My family loved reliving the story as much as I did. It was like a hidden gift inside the pages of a book. This book will be carefully tucked away with our holiday decorations this year, so we can take it out each year and listen to story again and again. My mom gave my children a book, but really, she gave us so much more through a book that lets us travel back in time.
If you are looking for a priceless, inexpensive gift, record a book with the child you love. You are not only giving them a story, you are associating love with reading. You are giving them a memory and years from now, they will revisit those pages and be transported back in time. That book will be a portal to years gone by filled with so many good feelings and memories.