Words, Books and my Mother

I owe much to my mother but the one thing that I carry with me, and it was a true gift from her, is my love of words and books.

She was an avid reader throughout years and there were always books on the shelves while I was growing up. She was also a stickler for good grammar ("ain't" and "I don't got" were her pet peeves).

One of the nicest memories I have of her is our visits to the old Pico Rivera Library. I say old because the original Library was razed and rebuilt a while back.

I would accompany her and then wander off by myself to find the books that interested me. The day came when I no longer went with her to the library. I never thought about it before but I have to wonder if that saddened her. Life has a way of changing and moving on and sometimes all we can do is go along for the ride.

Still, through the years we would refer books to each other, at other times just exchange books. She enjoyed talking about the books we read. I miss those conversations.

She was an excellent, though unheralded writer. Maybe she missed her calling.

Love you ma!