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Photograph taken by Skylr Harkness
My parents have been married for 35 years this May. They’ve weathered about a half-a-dozen moves combined through as many states. They’ve done everything from run a piano repair business to serving their community through Christian Ministry. They’ve raised nine children with ages ranging from my youngest brother, Evan who is 14 to myself at 33. They’ve home-schooled some of us and sent others off to the maelstrom that is the public school system. They’ve been through storms and rainbows and I love them both dearly.
My father set an incredible example to me. I remember scouring his huge bookshelves filled with books about subjects such as theology to the classics. I remember reading Paradise Lost and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Moby Dick and The Lord of the Rings. Surprise, surprise – I was quite the bookworm. Through my father I learned to appreciate National Public Radio and fall in love with classical music. To this day I cannot hear Grieg’s Piano Concerto or Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto #5 without thinking of him and singing along, moving my arms like he did.
My mother made sure our trips to the library were consistent and often. Although she’d set a limit on 2 books per week (Sorry Mom for sneaking out those other 6 or so under my shirt) ((Don’t worry I still checked them out!))..she never denied us the opportunity to just sit in the library and read. I loved my time there and can even still picture our library in Omaha, NE. She made sure I always had the time to practice my classical music and shuttled me from library to piano lesson to home. And, of course – provided the yummiest cinnamon rolls and homemade bread for me to munch on while I read.
It can be so easy to not encourage your children to read. Time flies by so quickly and we get so concerned over getting them to sports practice, dance lessons and music lessons that their days fill up quickly and it’s difficult to get them to just sit down and read for 15 minutes. I’m incredibly blessed in having a niece and nephew who love for me to read to them and have developed the same love of books that their dad and I have. The other day, my nephew walked into Barnes and Noble with me and I asked him, “Do you smell it, Cole?”. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled, looking up with me with a small smile, “Aunt, that’s books. It smells like books.”
So I want to thank my mom and my dad for providing the opportunity to become a book lover and for settings such a wonderful example for me. 35 years later and you two continue to set an example such as the one shown in the picture above. I love you both.
Who fostered and inspired you to become a book lover? Was there someone in your childhood that encouraged you? A parent? A teacher? Let me know!
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My Mummy encouraged me!
My mum always had her head stuck in a book, I think she knitted and read at the same time. She left school at 14, as all people did in Ireland. ( READ ANGELA”S ASHES IF YOU HAVEN”T ALREADY!) She learned from the books she read and was incredibly smart.
Even when I moved over to the USA she would call me and tell me about some great book that she wanted me to read. For some reason, the book that comes to mind, when I say that, is The Horse Whisperer. She told me the entire story on the phone!
My mum was sick for years before she died in 1998. One of my memories at the end is the library truck coming each week to deliver all her books!
Other people in the family have taken over that role. My mother’s sister and her daughter give me books now and inspire me. ( and Lydia of course!)
Beautiful post! I dont know what drove me to books….I didnt have a reader in the family. It was me. The only thing I can think of is that we had a lot of family tragedy when I was young. I think books were my “safe place”. I could get into them and leave all the other stuff behind.