April showers bring May flowers...here's proof! Happy Baptismal day anniversary to me...52 years ago I was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith on this day. Matt thought we should celebrate with lunch at TGIF's (Matt always thinks we should celebrate with food...he is, after all, a teenage boy), so we headed there for a Portobello Mushroom Grilled Cheese sandwich and Roasted Red Pepper soup...and a good choice it was indeed. After work Alex and Mark are headed to the golf links and I am headed to the library as I am fresh out of any "waiting around for kids and carpooling books," which means light reading that can be picked up and put down easily with no loss in train of thought as people come and go chatting and visiting as we all wait for the kiddos at swim practices and choir rehearsals, etc. (The library is conveniently located right across the street from Matt's swim practice pool...an easy commute since I spend so much time up there dropping off and picking him up at the pool each day.) With me, this means mysteries...mysteries are by far my favorite kind of quick reading. My favorite kind of reading has always been non-fiction as I love to learn while reading. Back in the day, BK (before kids), I would have four non-fiction books going at any one time...history, literature, etc....and all my friends long ago stopped asking what I was reading for fear that I would actually tell them. With just the title, I could see their eyes glazing over and that fake little smile that says "how interesting" when you know it really means, "how soon can I change the subject?" These are not the mysteries I read to pass the time at the pool and in pick up lines. Please note that I don't read mysteries like most people undoubtedly read them. Mysteries are meant to be read through from page one until one reaches the end with great build up and excitement and lots of trying to guess who did it, etc. I never read them like that. For one thing, I am not that big on surprises. Life throws enough surprises at me as it is, I am not thinking I need to go around actively pursuing means to add more of them into life. I am not big on suspense...although I watch Hitchcock's films over and over again (probably because after the first time, I already know the ending and therefore a lot of the suspense is no longer suspenseful). What I do like, and the reason I enjoy reading mysteries, is watching it all unfold and seeing the machinations of that process. Yep, I read the end first. I have never once confessed this in the confessional, as I think that it is one of those guilty pleasures that really doesn't have a thing to do with sin! I read the front cover, the back cover, the insides of both covers, the title page front and back, the very first paragraph of the first page and then I flip to the end where I think the solution lies waiting for me. Oh, it is so rewarding! I love knowing how it all turns out as I read through the book and watch it all come together piece by piece. What deliciousness! Your secrets are safe with me...I won't tell...I just love watching it all unfold and seeing who guessed and who did not...it is a guilty pleasure, what can I say? And, in the long run, a whole lot better than sin!