Sure, that looks like Green Girl and Mr. G, the adopted monkey-boy, but it's really Word Girl and Captain Huggy Face from PBS Kids. It could be me, though. I love words. I get a charge out of reading unusual words. I enjoy listening to people talk. I take pleasure in arranging and rearranging words on a page. Words are power, they're the primary way to get our thoughts across, they command and question and explain. Some of the best words carry multiple meanings--like run and light and dream. Some words leave an unmistakable taste in your mouth--greasy, dread, gaunt, lope. Words can be wonderfully precise ("Drive 2.7 miles north past the Cty. E intersection, we're the first blacktopped driveway on your left.") or vague ("God bless him for that. That's really something!") Words manipulate, inspire and ultimately make us feel less alone. One of the biggest thrills of motherhood is watching my sons learn how to read. It even trumps potty training on the List of Major Accomplishments and Milestones. Listening to them read and reading with them, parsing out unfamiliar words and discussing definitions delights me every time. (I adore alliteration the way some people revere rhyming.)
As a child I was a voracious reader. I'd read the ingredients off the back of a shampoo bottle in the tub. I'd read the back of a cereal box at the table. I'd read, read, read, read. If I forgot a book on a trip to Grandma's, I'd read her old copies of Good Housekeeping and Ladies' Home Journal just for something to do. And as a grown-up, I still read whatever's on hand--I've even pulled out the owner's manual to the Momvan on occasion, while waiting for my kids to finish soccer practice or karate class.
When we built our house, I even chose the old-fashioned style faucets that read "Hot" and "Cold" on the handles. I wanted words in every room of my house. We have piles of books in every room, and my favorite art has words written across or on it. I even wear a repurposed Scrabble tile on a necklace--because it has a LETTER on it!
Kathy makes letters, letters to make words. If I were to draw my name (which I can't because I'm not going to enter my own contest--how selfish would that be?), I'd totally choose this from her Four Dog Day Etsy shop:
Or this:
Are you overwhelmed by the choices yet? Kathy's a whiz--she makes all kinds of marvelous things, useful, lovely, quaint. I'm picking one lucky winner tomorrow--every comment in the comment box is an entry to win the item of your choice from Kathy's Four Dog Day shop.
Spill it, reader. Are you a word girl (or guy)?
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