F-O-O-D
Februarys in the late 70s/early 80s, my dad had an old friend visit from Champaign and they would go to the Chicago Auto Show.
These visits were insignificant to me most years. However at 4, I found myself, along with my family and this friend traveling to some place not now remembered. The friend says to my parents, “Hey, you guys wanna go get some F-O-O-D?”
“Yeah!!” ” I responded in an outdoor voice.
His attempt to kid-proof his sentence had failed. My parents laughed and advised him that trick didn’t work on me anymore. It was at that moment, I had cognizance of my ability to read. Before then, I knew I had been taught the basics of reading. My parents were very good about that from a very early age. But it was that night, that ride, that I was first truly aware of the usefulness of my new ability.
Ok, so I wouldn’t have put it like that at age 4. But the fact that I still rather vividly recall the smug satisfaction I felt at deciphering my dad’s friend’s code is the reason this event stands out as the first time I knew I could read.
Inspiration - when did you first become aware you could read?
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:24 pm
My first reading aha! was probably in kindergarten. They had been teaching us rhyming words, like ran, pan, can which I was getting really well, but there was nothing special about it.
One day my mom put me down for a nap in my parents room, and on the bookshelf were my dad’s books. I looked at the spine of one of the books, and suddenly I knew the word. I knew from my name the sound the letter J made and I had thouroughly learned the word “pan” but this was the first time I had ever put anything together on my own when I read the title of that book, “Japan”. It’s hard to describe and it sounds a little silly, but that was a very profound experience for me.