The book that started it all...

A friend recently posted a quote from the author Richard Bach and it reminded me of my very favorite book. 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I cannot explain to you how this book really affected me deeply but seeing the quote on a friend's page flooded me with memories.

I was 10 years old when my mother instinctively knew I was being teased at school for being extremely awkward, nerdy and just an outcast in comparison to others.  I was already beginning to be a huge tree hugging liberal by that age and it made me stick out like a sore thumb.  I mean I was the girl that loved the planet, cried when I read speeches by Martin Luther King, watched Star Trek, reading the Hobbit and loved anything to do with science.  This book made me feel it was okay to be unique, deeply thoughtful, analytical, odd and not willing to conform to other's ideas of how I should be or act.

Even though it isn't a book on the environment it gave me license to think differently than others, think outside the box and be okay with feeling like an outcast.  It made me realize I do not have to conform with what is popular or what is "in" and how I am suppose to be at 10 or even now at 40!  It allowed me to stand firm in what I feel or believe with unwavering strength.

Whenever I have felt alone, an outcast or just different than others, I have picked up this book and read it!  I cry, I smile, I laugh and I feel understood.  I felt like I could fly!

Thank you Richard Bach for this amazing book, I am re-reading for probably the 100th time.  Thank you Mom for knowing I loved to read and that I need to know it is okay to stand out in a crowd!

So if you have read this book read it again, if not find it and read it!

~Deanne

"Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly."
— Richard Bach (Jonathan Livingston Seagull)

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