Happy March, friends. I like to call it Middle Earth March. I specifically look forward to March 25th each year. In the Tolkienverse, it’s the Gondorian New Year, the day Sauron fell, the One Ring was destroyed, and the beginning of the Fourth Age of Gondor. It’s often celebrated as Tolkien Reading Day, the theme of which this year is “Service and Sacrifice.” March 25 is also my almost-birthday. On this day, I fix many meals – first and second breakfast, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper – and hole up with a Tolkien book. Ha ha, get it? In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit? Anyway. Sometimes I reread an old favorite and revisit The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. Other times, I’ll pick a less familiar work. It’s been probably 20 years and more since I read The Silmarillion, and I have only read Leaf by Niggle but once. Might be the year for that. Who knows? I did read The Fellowship of the Ring to my daughter for the first time a couple years ago. She was ten at the time and was mightily impressed that Frodo gets to go on a quest and see the elves and all. I think she will never forgive me for not warning her that Gandalf falls in Moria, though. She’s still mad at me for not warning her. But what could I do? I couldn’t spoil it for her. On the Gondorian New Year, I’ll definitely make all the food for her. I’m determined to make her a Tolkien fan and so far, my plan seems to be working.

As a lifelong Tolkien fan myself, it is natural for me to reread the books every few years. Each time, I discover something entirely new in them. I’ve always changed in some way between readings, grown older, hopefully a little wiser, and so I pick up new things in the text. It’s like an English trifle, each reading revealing a hidden layer to reveal some new treasure within. It’s delightful. I honestly don’t know if it is just because I love Tolkien’s works so much, or if they are just that rich, or what, because there are any number of other books that I adore and reread often but don’t find that much new in them upon rereading. In any case, there are many life lessons I have learned from Tolkien’s works. Just a few of the ones I have found to be the most meaningful are below. Continue reading “Middle Earth March: Life Lessons from Tolkien” →