"Dear"
From the old English deore or diore or dyre
Depending on whether you were Anglican or West Saxon
Or deurja in the Proto-Germanic, diuri in Old Saxon  
Dyrr in Old Norse and diore in Old Frisian 
All meaning:
Precious, valuable
Costly, expensive
Glorious
Noble
Loved, beloved
Regarded with affection

And sometimes it can be a bit snide 
Like "Okay dear" 
But here, I mean it nicely
Darling, precious, cherished, loved

In primary school
One of my teachers 
Had a regularly instituted policy called 
D.E.A.R Time
Drop Everything and Read 

Sometime in the day
She would announce 
"D.E.A.R Time!"
And we would stop whatever it was that we were doing
And choose a book
And read -
Isn't it nice that read and dear have the same letters? 
And it was my favorite part of the day
(Though back then I would've spelled it "favourite"
And "spelled" "spelt"
The Great Reading and Writing Challenge
Australia v. USA) 

I've missed reading books 
Reading for fun 
Just sitting and reading and not doing anything else 
Too much social media
Too much work
Too much being online 
Too many other Things To Do

So I'm bringing back D.E.A.R Time 
The past few days it happens to be around 11am
I grab my book
Snuggle up under a blanket 
Set the alarm for fifteen minutes
And just read
(Am currently devouring Index,
Delicious) 

When work picks up again
It's going to be harder to maintain 
D.E.A.R Time
Time is precious
Time is money 
Time is of the essence 

But I will try because
That time is
Precious, valuable
Costly, expensive
Glorious
Noble
Loved, beloved
Regarded with affection
Dear.