P52, Somewhat: Week 3, "Inspire"

As I've mentioned before, I'm a lexophile....a "word person."  My fascination with words began as a child and has never stopped.  I love all kinds of words, both the familiar and the obscure.  And, like other word people, I have a habit of relating one word to another, by definition or usage or by some other means.  When I first read the list of topics for this P52 challenge, my eye immediately caught on this week's "Inspire" topic.  In my mind I couldn't stop turning the word over and over, thinking of how many pictures could be taken to fit the prompt in one way or another.

I thought of the cliché photos I could take of my adorable little boy, and then label him as my "inspiration."  But that would not have been truthful.  I've loved writing for much much longer than I've even been a parent.  So, while Kaleb may be the topic of plenty of my blog posts these days, he's not the reason I write.

I thought of how to play with the word, turn it into a pun and take a picture.  I thought of all the lovely old churches downtown, with the towering architecture that might give me a place to climb into and take a photo.  You know, from the spire of an old church.  From the inside.  In the spire.  In spire.  Inspire.  But even I couldn't get behind that silly an idea....and I sure didn't know when I'd ever have the time to find a church to let me climb around in their towers.

So, I decided to take a more serious turn with the word.  I thought of all the words that are used with 'inspire,' and the words with similar meanings or alliterative assonance.  Inspire — Influence — Instigate: Three words with meanings a hair's breadth apart, yet with vastly dissonant connotations.

I've decided that maybe it is the words themselves that inspire me to write and to improve.  And the source of my inspiration, therefore, is the sourse of all the words: books.

Books have been a part of my life since I was a tiny child.  When I was born, my mother was the librarian at the Crestview Public Library.  I'd say it's a good bet that I listened to the text of more than one book before I was ever even born!  From my birth, my parents both understood the importance of reading to children, and their awareness only increased once they were both through school and working as teachers.  While my memories of my pre-school days are limited and fuzzy, many of my earliest memories include reading with or being read to by my parents.  I heard words, and I learned words; eventually, I fell in love with words.

Words enabled me to excel in school when I put enough effort behind my abilities.  Words helped me to build a healthy imagination.  Sometimes words got me in trouble....because I couldn't keep quiet during my school lessons.  But overall, words have done far more good in my life than most other influencing factors.  So, it is in tribute to my love of books and the words within—the words of others—that I snapped this week's pic.

"Volumes of Inspiration" photo by Sarah Getz on Jan. 16,2012 for P52 challenge.