Confession...

I love Anne of Green Gables. Not just the first book, all of them. I've read them once a year ever since I was probably about six. The books are beginning to fall apart from their long, well-used life. I like the first two movies too. (the third one was awful since they decided to make up their own story instead of following the books.) But the books are a million times better.

When I was little, I wanted to be Anne. I wanted red hair. I used to look in the mirror and search hopefully for any reddish highlights, and I wished and hoped that someday my Irish blood would come through for me...it didn't, which is probably a good thing! And I was glad I was skinny and freckled. Somehow she seemed kind of like me. I used big words. I had a well-used imagination and tended to be rather dramatic. (My husband would tell you I still am. Ok...maybe so.)

It's interesting reading something every year since you were six. Different parts of her story have been more meaningful to me at different times of my life. When I was little, I loved all her adventures and mis-adventures. I wanted "a bosom friend." (and I ended up finding a few, luckily!) MB and I created a "Green Gables Club" and named everything around my house after places in the books. She was Diana and I was Anne. She gave me a lock of her hair. (And I still have it. I find it mildly gross--cut hair just seems so dead.) Once, Meg (I think) and I forced Dustin and Jen to act out the "Lady of Shallot" scene where Gilbert rescues Anne. We made Jen lay on an inner tube and float down the ditch and then knocked her off when she got to our bridge. I think it took them about 12 times before they finally said all the lines to our satisfaction and we let them go.

When I got older, the struggles she had growing up and with things changing was familiar to me. And of course, being a mushy girl, I've always loved the love story between her and Gilbert. I wanted a Gilbert of my own. (The one I got is named Tyler, which I think is a much nicer name.) I honestly believe there is an Anne quote applicable to nearly any situation. I actually have a notebook somewhere full of them. They're the kind of quotes that when you read them, you wish you had been the one to say that, because it just expresses things so perfectly. Yes, sometimes I feel cheesy admitting how much I love the books, but they really are some of my favorites.

Sooo...if you haven't read all of them, do it sometime. They're funny and girly and perfect to curl up with and read when it's cold outside.