Pinch Me Places: Storytime

I've visited many places on earth that qualify as "pinch me places"--spots so amazing or celebrated I can hardly believe I'm really there. Such as Machu Pichu. The Western Wall. The Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem. 221B Baker Street in London. And so on.

But a recent "pinch me place" was the couch in my son's living room, where I got to read (on four successive evenings) to my oldest grandchildren, Miles and Mia, from The Hobbit. Since they moved to California in early June, I haven't had that priceless pleasure, so it was a "pinch me place" to cuddle with them and choke back tears as I read of Bilbo and Thorin and Smaug in San Jose, California.