For the Love of a Good Book
/Disclaimer: I'm working with a social eReader program, Copia, which is launching this weekend. As part of the launch they've asked me to mention Copia is having a Mother's Day sale with 50% off all eBooks so you should go out and grab some. What's better than inexpensive books and a great social eReader? It's almost like the fine people of Copia have spoken with my husband. Seriously.
My very first mother's day spent as an actual mother happened 24 hours after my husband and I walked down the aisle. I was 14? 15? weeks pregnant with my son, trying to wrangle an eight month old who had the worst diaper rash I had ever seen and was completely exhausted from all of the wedding excitement from the day before.
It hadn't even occurred to me that the day after our wedding was Mother's day and luckily my mother was very understanding when I handed her a bouquet of hastily purchased, half wilted gas station roses. She was just thrilled to have one less child to worry about. The fact I was now someone else's problem was the best mother's day gift I could ever give her.
I hadn't really expected anything myself, for my inaugural mother's day as somebody's mom, after all, my new husband had just spent more than he could afford to throw me a party and our daughter, little genius as she was, wasn't cognizant of much other than her desire to sleep, fill her diaper and be fed.
But there on the dresser was a small package, wrapped clumsily in tissue paper, with more tape than warranted on the edges and a card addressed to 'Mom.'
Since I was the only Mom in the room, I figured it was for me and so with my daughter squirming in my arms, I ripped off the tissue and discovered it was a book.
Alice In Wonderland. Inscribed on the first page my husband had written "I can't wait to watch you take our daughter to Wonderland."
My husband knew how important reading was to me and how much I wanted to instill that love in my children. There is nothing quite like spending an afternoon, snuggled on the family couch, each of us quietly lost in our imaginations as we plow through our latest selections.
Every Mother's day that has followed, there has been a book clumsily wrapped in tissue paper, with more tape than warranted on the edges and a card addressed to 'Mom' waiting for me to open. It's the greatest mother's day present I could ever ask for.
Because sharing my love of reading, of books, of stories with my children and watching their imaginations come alive along the way is the best way I could ever spend Mother's day with my family. I'm so glad my husband knew that right from the very start.
*****
My very first mother's day spent as an actual mother happened 24 hours after my husband and I walked down the aisle. I was 14? 15? weeks pregnant with my son, trying to wrangle an eight month old who had the worst diaper rash I had ever seen and was completely exhausted from all of the wedding excitement from the day before.
It hadn't even occurred to me that the day after our wedding was Mother's day and luckily my mother was very understanding when I handed her a bouquet of hastily purchased, half wilted gas station roses. She was just thrilled to have one less child to worry about. The fact I was now someone else's problem was the best mother's day gift I could ever give her.
I hadn't really expected anything myself, for my inaugural mother's day as somebody's mom, after all, my new husband had just spent more than he could afford to throw me a party and our daughter, little genius as she was, wasn't cognizant of much other than her desire to sleep, fill her diaper and be fed.
But there on the dresser was a small package, wrapped clumsily in tissue paper, with more tape than warranted on the edges and a card addressed to 'Mom.'
Since I was the only Mom in the room, I figured it was for me and so with my daughter squirming in my arms, I ripped off the tissue and discovered it was a book.
Alice In Wonderland. Inscribed on the first page my husband had written "I can't wait to watch you take our daughter to Wonderland."
My husband knew how important reading was to me and how much I wanted to instill that love in my children. There is nothing quite like spending an afternoon, snuggled on the family couch, each of us quietly lost in our imaginations as we plow through our latest selections.
Every Mother's day that has followed, there has been a book clumsily wrapped in tissue paper, with more tape than warranted on the edges and a card addressed to 'Mom' waiting for me to open. It's the greatest mother's day present I could ever ask for.
Because sharing my love of reading, of books, of stories with my children and watching their imaginations come alive along the way is the best way I could ever spend Mother's day with my family. I'm so glad my husband knew that right from the very start.