I was talking with three other mothers the other day and we discovered we have something in common besides all having sons. None of the sons seem to have the passion for reading that their mothers embrace! All four of the sons are bright young men of varying ages and talented in many areas, but none have been bitten by the reading bug as much as we have. As reading mothers, we each seemed to question why they do not read as we do! Is it a guy thing? Or, maybe the result of the technology age?
As I have mentioned before, I grew up in a reading family- both the men and women. My mom, dad and grandma always had their newspapers; my grandpa was the book reader.
Once I outgrew children’s books, my grandpa Otto’s reading habits encouraged me to continue reading. He always had books in the house, regularly ordering them through the mail. If I did not like his selections, I would eagerly plan a visit to the Bookmobile. That red bus with white lettering could have been a limo, or a jet plane, or a cruise ship for me because the books always took me to another place.
I was thinking the other day how proud I still am of my grandpa Otto. He came to the United States in the 1920’s, a German native. He was proud to become an American citizen, and spoke perfect English with a charming hint of his German accent. I am not sure if he read to improve his English, or if he improved his English to read; either way it was definitely something he enjoyed.
Grandpa Otto passed away in 1996; two months shy of his 95th birthday. I think there will always be a grandpa-size hole in my heart. I know he always read my newspaper articles, I wish he was here so that I could hand him a copy of Secrets One – The Series. I think he would be very proud of the fact that I am now a published author (thanks to an awesome co-author).
And, I hope that when my son has a family of his own that he will carry on, and encourage, a family tradition of reading. I know I will be a reading grandma!
Happy reading to all of you!
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