I NEVER EAT ALONE

by Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Have you ever been bored? What did that feel like? It’s a feeling I experience only rarely. Like when listening to a dull speaker.

For the most part, I don’t have time to be bored. My time is filled with family and friends and writing. And if I do have moments of time in between those things, like waiting in the doctor’s office or eating a meal by myself, I read. Books have been part of my life since I was a small child.

These days, I eat most of my meals at our kitchen table with my husband, but if he isn’t around, I have a book handy. I have eaten meals during the battle of Gettysburg or on the wild prairie or watching two soul mates search for and find each other.

Other restaurant patrons might wonder what made me laugh out loud. (One day it was WEDNESDAY WARS). A waitress might catch me wiping tears from my cheeks. (Lots of books have done that.)

Yes, I have to deal with the occasional (or frequent) soda splash or ketchup blot on a page, but I wipe it off and continue on the journey the author has laid out for me. If I find the book boring, I have a back-up book at the ready.

Readers like me know how to not get bored. I always, always have a book close by. And I never eat alone.