Cheryl Drury

while he was a slave, so much so that when he escaped, he was able to explain what slavery does, not just to this enslaved person, but to the people doing the enslaving.

These things are amazing, and they're all just sitting there, and I can take advantage of that?

That's huge.

That's huge.

You know, I can tell you another thing I learned.

I learned patience.

Like with myself, when I don't understand something, I know how to go back and I can figure it out.

I can slow down or I can find somebody to explain it to me.

And I learned patience with the author because I quit wanting the author to tell me the story I wanted to hear.

And I was able to let the author tell me the story they want to tell at their pace.

I had gotten into a bad habit of just wanting to read for plot and always what happens, what happens.

And I realized that I was missing out on some beautiful characters and some beautiful people if I would just sit and let the story unfold the way the author wanted to tell it.

So I became more patient.

You know, it's one of those things you know in your head, but if you experience it like over and over again, like I did every time I'd go back and read Plato or I read the Odyssey, and you meet these people where they are and get to know them, it's just over and over again, it becomes very clear what you're doing.

It's amazing.

What a gift.

I totally agree with you.

It's been amazing to see, to meet these people, and yet they could be sitting, like you said, beside me on the bus.

People just don't change.

And it's so fun to get to understand that.