Reading Books...Creating Memories

Some years back, I had just graduated from the University. The next thing on the agenda was to have a young man ask for my hand in marriage.

Leventis Store on Marina was still in its hey days. They had some great books in their book section. I bought quite a few titles from there. I cannot for the life of me remember these titles. One or two of them were about marriage.....

I read the books as though my life depended on it. As I look back now, I wasn't deliberately reading to prepare for married life. I just enjoyed reading books. I recall this story from one of the books.

"Tunde and Tolu (I don't remember the names now) were newly married. As they finished eating dinner one evening, they had some left over meat. Tolu remarked that her mum would have cooked some beans with the left over meat. Tunde, with a smile, said, "That's what my mum would do too!" They agreed that, the following evening, they'll have for their dinner, beans made with the left over meat.

The next day, all day at work, Tunde imagined his wife cooking beans just like his mum would do. Tolu, on the other hand cleaned the house and in the evening, lovingly prepared beans, just the way her mum would have done, She set the table, with a song on her lips, delighted that she had a pleasant evening with her husband to look forward to.

She heard Tunde arrive and went to the door to welcome him. Tunde, on arrival, was a bit perplexed as he walked in to their apartment. He couldn't perceive the aroma he had looked forward to all day long. He saw the table set and asked Tolu, "Didn't you say we'll have beans for dinner tonight?" "Of course, yes" she replied, opening the dish with flourish.  Becoming irritable, Tunde looked into the dish and snapped, "This isn't beans!" Close to tears, Tolu replied, "What do you mean? This is beans!"

They exchanged a few more sentences and then paused and sat down, not wanting to quarrel. As they asked each other questions and listened carefully to one another, they learnt that though they had used the same words, they meant entirely different things. What Tunde's family referred to as beans was completely different from what Tolu's family referred to as beans."

I tucked this story away in some corner of my mind.

Fast forward some years later, I got married to my fantastic husband. Ever so frequently I found myself recalling Tunde and Tolu's story from that corner of my mind. It saved us some massive misunderstanding when we used words which we thought we both understood, only to the discover that the words meant different things to my husband and I!

That's the power that books have in building lives. I don't remember the title of the book or the name of the author. Yet, the lesson I learnt from it is still so fresh in my mind as though, I read the book just yesterday.

Many times ,when you're reading a book, you don't deliberately set out to learn something. However, some of what you read, stays with you, tucked away in some corner of your mind. Ready to be recalled and put to use when the need arises.

So will you pick up a book today, and start reading, just for the fun of it?