We really love hearing from young people and discovering how they have experienced Reading Force, so we were thrilled when Molly said she would share her story. Please give a warm welcome to Molly, our fantastic guest blogger, who writes about sharing books with her dad and how they stay connected…
My dad works on the HMS Prince of Wales in the Navy. He has just left for a near eight-month deployment. When he leaves, I get a rush of emotions from upset to happy that the countdown begins to December, till he is home again.
During this time, we are reading a book with a set number of pages a month, this book is called All The Light We Cannot See. My Dad and I will send each other Blueys with lots of things to tell each other from pictures to letters and favourite bits. When he is available to do so we will discuss the book on the phone.
Reading Force is a great charity and helps so much. They can do so much to support you. Me and my little cousin, who is five years old, are looking forward to when the next scrapbook arrives as it can make us talk about my dad (her uncle) when he is on deployment and it brings us comfort.
Normally me and Dad talk on the phone twice a week, we have set days, meaning that we are able to have a regular routine and we both look forward to speaking to each other, sometimes I struggle to talk to him because mainly I don’t have much to tell him, but with Reading Force me and my Dad have much more to talk about with scrapbooks and the book that we are both reading. It helps me and my dad to stay connected by reading the same book and being able to talk to him about it.
For this deployment, I have also done a map, so in one colour I can track him and the ship he works on for the way there in one colour pin, and then for the way back I will change the colour pin. When my dad is on deployment, I always try to at least once a week look forward to something that connects us even if it’s the smallest thing, as then it makes the weeks go quicker, and then his homecoming will be the biggest thing out of all the things I look forward to the most.
As my dad continues to be on deployment, me and my cousin will continue to use Reading Force, as we find it brings us happiness and comfort during this long period of separation.
Molly, aged 14, Jersey Channel Islands