Sierra V. Fedorko

One might argue that you read books to go on an adventure, see new worlds, and experience an epic you otherwise wouldn’t know. But in reading The Fellowship of the Ring last September,  I would beg to differ.

While reading the grand adventure taken by Gandalf, Frodo, Sam and so many others, I felt the echoes of my own life leaping off the page.

Tolkien manages to write everyday themes and emotions into an imaginative world you’ve never been to, but one you’ve known all the same. The battle of good vs. evil, the joy of friendship, or a good meal, the feeling of darkness, and the pulse of hope against all odds…these are things we experience in our own everyday lives. So while reading about Frodo, my own ordinary life spreads across the page too.

So, maybe reading is not for escape from your life, but for seeing your very own life in a new light.

I have felt my own life within Tolkien’s words and have also seen his words sum up my own hopes so succinctly and beautifully. Below I’ll share one of those “sum-up” quotes for you. I hope this can be said by my children, friends, family, and all who cross over the threshold of my own home.

“The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

This “cease of power” doesn’t happen in grand gestures and big crucible moments, it happens in the long and soft of everyday…

In how I speak to those I love, and when I take time to sit on the floor with my children. In asking them when they least expect it “Do you want to read a book? Go pick one out!” It’s how birthday cakes come the same way every time, with sprinkles. Or when too much watermelon becomes Honey Lemonade Watermelon slushies on a Saturday.

It happens when I choose better bedtimes for myself, or cut out stale T.V./entertainment habits, or try my hand at festive garlands, or nurture a rich reading life. When I choose to soak up the life in my everyday instead of letting it suck me dry, the return is a home where happiness is nurtured (and laundry is better managed, hehehee🤭).

And I hope that happiness is so apparent that any who cross our home’s threshold can feel the peace, bright-side, and blessing of each day. It is not turning a blind-eye, for I feel the struggles keenly and wrestle with fear deeply, but my home, I pray, is a solace, a fresh bloom in dreary rain where health and hope can grow strong, good days can be felt, and simple pleasures have a fighting chance to be seen and really known!

If you haven’t picked up an old classic adventure book whether of the Anne or Bilbo kind, you must! In these pages, you’ll find the epic in everyday and how you’re living it, too.