Time to Read!

I'm not a hard guy to shop for.

I only like a few things and I'm not real quiet about those passions.

If you buy me something with the inter-locking NY in blue on it, you'll probably be all right. The 27-Time World Champion logo will also get you extra points.

This year I got a few Yankee mugs and Yankee ball markers for golf and a Yankee tool to fix ball markings on the green.

(That won't get much use as I hardly ever make a mark on the green...my ball usually goes screaming in, but read it and weep Grape Apes - it goes with my Yankee putter!).

I also like Springsteen and there are usually items related to the god of music that make an appearance.

But the gift of the year this year was simple:

The gift of reading.

My kids each bought me a book.

My wife grabbed me the new Stephen King Novel (She was real worried that I'd see it before Christmas, but I stayed out of the book store).

In all I gathered 8 books to read...and I spent a few minutes trying to figure out the order I would read them in...but it gets better.

I also received three Barnes & Noble gift cards of $50 each.

I have $150 to spend at the bookstore!!!!

I'm rich!!!

And there might be a lot of people out there shaking their heads.

"I've read three books in the last five years," someone said as I crowed about my good fortune.

"I haven't read a book in about five years," someone else said.

"How many books do you read a year?" the guy asked me.

"Two a week," I said. "About 100 a year."

The geek jokes were flying.

"Where do you find the time?"

And I thought about it.

I honestly can't remember the last time I didn't read before going to sleep.

"I read about 50 pages every night," I said. "Sometimes I'll read an entire book in a day."

The looks I got were akin to having admitted to a mass murder.

"That's pathetic," one of the non-readers mentioned.

But I thought of Christmas Eve and going up to my Mom's library at home. We swap good books nearly every time we see each other. We talk about favorite authors and even a few authors that I've met along the way.

"I was reading the Phelps book," Mom said, "And I kept thinking that you two won the same award. It was weird."

"We drank together," I said. "He's a good guy."

And the beauty of the greatest gift I ever received came rushing back to me:

My Mom taught me to love reading.

40 some years later it is still paying off.

I have $150 in book money!!!!

That's awesome.

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