A few Christmases ago, I remember talking to my friend, Sarah, about how it had gone. Only a day or two after the holiday, we talked about what we had gotten, and what we had given. She asked if I had gotten everything I wanted. I casually mentioned I would have loved an e-book reader, but knowing money was tight and I hadn't realized my desire for one until too close to the holiday, I hadn't gotten it.
It was one of those things I casually shrugged off. I had figured I would just look into getting one myself. I was going through one of my heavy reading phases and I realized how much pain it caused me to hold open a book, especially a hardcover book. I love reading in bed, especially on bad nights, and it was so painful and bothersome that I would often just not bother. I figured a Nook or Kindle would alleviate that problem, but I was just going to have to wait.
Or so I thought. Sarah and I made plans to just have a quiet night of talking. She would come over and we could just relax. Sarah is a sneaky one. I hadn't been to Bible Study for a bit, which is how we know each other, mostly because my pain had hit it's peak. I was also going through a lot of personal issues at the time, so it became too much for me to handle.
When I opened the door, I greeted Sarah and her husband, Chris. I hadn't expected him, but that was ok. The more the merrier. A few minutes later, there was another knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone else, but apparently Sarah was. A couple more people from Bible Study were there, and I began to see what was going on. I was an unexpected hostess to a surprise party for me!
The nice thing is I really didn't have to do anything. Everyone else brought food and drinks. I was given a plate and told to sit (paper plates thankfully, so I had no dishes to do later either). Sarah and I laughed about how sneaky she had been. It was a great night and I was happy to share it with my closest friends. We all gathered in the living room to talk and eat pizza.
As we were finishing up our pizza, I was presented with another surprise. One by one, for the simple reason of "being a good hostess", I was handed a piece of cardboard by my guests. Pieces of a puzzle I started putting together. I had a good idea what it was with the first piece or two. The finished puzzle was a black and white image of a Kindle.
I was then informed that it had been ordered and would be shipped to my house in a few days. Apparently the Bible Study had all chipped in to buy one for me. I didn't know what to say. No one but my family had ever spent more than $20 on a present for me, or had put the kind of thought into it that they had. It meant so much to me that they would go to this trouble for me.
And the gift, the Kindle, has been a life saver. Weighing less than most books, and even taking up less space than a paperback, the Kindle has allowed me to do more reading than I otherwise could have. Since the popularity of the smartphones, I prefer my Bible app on there, but used to carry my bible to church with me on my Kindle.
I've now owned it for a few years. Even with newer models coming out, I love my little black and white kindle. No irritating screen backlight to prompt a migraine. Fits perfectly in my purse and easy to keep within arms reach. I've been expanding my library. I'm always looking for free ebooks on Amazon or other places online. I'm also working on replacing my physical books with ebooks. Too many years of not reading my Harry Potter books has irritated me. Over the last several weeks, I've re-read most of the Left Behind Series. Still working on it.
To this day, I will not forget the love that was shown to me that night. Real friends are hard to come by and they've shown many times since then just how much I am loved. The Kindle has been another step in establishing normalcy with Fibro. Where before I found the pain of reading actual books to be unbearable, I can now read without pain. I can manage a vast library on my computer and sync it to my Kindle, making it much easier to find books I want to read. More and more publishers are adding ebooks to their repertoire. I highly recommend some kind of e-reader, Kindle, Nook or otherwise. The older models without the blacklight seem better to me. I can read on my smartphone if I like, but my kindle doesn't give me headaches if I read too long.
