Our grandmother, Mother to my Dad, was a very bright woman.  She only had an 8th-grade education but had taught herself to grow way beyond that limited formal training.

All the while my brother and I were growing up she was the Post Mistress of the Eckert, Colorado post office.  Having past the very exacting exam; not missing one question.

Our grandmother, Mother to my Momma, was much more fortunate getting to go to college and earning the right to be a teacher of education in the Elementry grades.

Our Mother graduated high school and married in June. For her high school was enough.

(My brother and myself)

What these three women believed in propelled my brother and myself to become enthralled and enamored with the written word and books.

Grandma Holder (Dad’s mother) would read to us from the newspaper. Yes, I know.  What child in their right mind would enjoy listening to news articles from a newspaper?

I know we would sit by her side, Dan on the left, me on the right and she would read to us; ending with the comic page.  Where she read each and every comic to us.

I’m sure we didn’t understand it all, and often times would fall asleep to the sound of her voice.  But truly she gave to us a gift untold.

Grandma Thomas, Mother’s Momma, would read to us little Golden books and other short stories, but what she truly did was TELL us stories. True stories from her childhood, made up stories with morals…like cleaning the house is fun…and imaginative stories about rabbits and other furry creatures.

As Grammy told the stories her voice would change and she would ‘become’ each character so we could ‘see’ in our minds what she was saying.

Momma would always read to us at bedtime.  Danny first, he was younger so went to bed sooner.  But not much sooner…just sooner enough for Momma to read the story.  Then it was my turn.

What an amazing gift they gave us…the spreading of our minds, the unspooling of distant lands and cultures, the ability to reclaim peace through stopping a moment with a good book in hand.

Some gifts are so precious we never really understand them until we actually make it through each day of our lives until we have a nice large space of time to look back and understand.

From my world to your heart,

Linda