Over the weekend, Stone needed a big book to use as a book press. He was searching our bookshelves & found the biggest one on a top shelf. The monstrous book was The Complete Works of Shakespeare by David Bevington, the only textbook I have saved from college. I graduated from the University of Maryland in 1994 and I took that class during my last semester. I’ve saved that book for 20 years. That realization stung a little and weighed as heavy as this textbook. 20 years…
Anyway, back to the book. Stone wanted a big book to sit on top of the duct tape wallet he had just made to see if it could help it stay closed on it’s own. That duct tape wallet sat underneath Shakespeare for a few days. After Stone was finished using it, I decided to skim through the book that I haven’t opened since that last semester of college. The Shakespeare class was my last English class requirement I needed to graduate. It wasn’t an easy course and I worked hard to get a C in that class.
20 years is a long time. I was 21. If you would have told me then that today I’d be married for 17 years with 4 kids, I would have stared at you in disbelief. Me? A mom? Of 4? Yeah, right. Greg & I were dating at the time and had talked about marriage happening after I graduated from college but it would still be a few years before we ventured down that road.
Honestly, being a mom wasn’t really a part of my life dream at the time. My dream at the time was to be an agent for the FBI. Don’t laugh.
Flipping through those pages and seeing my notes in the margin, made me realize a few things:
Reading Shakespeare today is just as difficult as it was then. I’d probably still get a C in that class. Sometimes you need a few days to “sit under” Shakespeare, like Stone’s wallet. It it challenging and complex making it hard to understand. Just like life. Shakespeare has a way of helping you chase reality away with his writing but at the same time, reflect life.
My handwriting in the margins may be similar but the circumstances of my life have changed. I’m thankful for the similarities and the differences. And I think my family is thankful that I didn’t pursue my dream of being an agent in the FBI…
Do you like to read Shakespeare? Have a favorite Shakespeare quote?