Essay Response - From Richard Weaver's Sister

This is a direct quotation from my sister after she read my Thursday essay, "Teaching the Spark" (08-20-09):

"I remember that all during my 'growing up' years I hated to read. I admired those who enjoyed it. I had to pretend I was enjoying it. Now however, in my adult life, mostly my retirement years, I am enjoying every minute I spend reading. I watched our mother read day after day and admired that she had that "thing" to occupy her time. She was bed ridden for four years. But one day she explained it to me. She said 'it takes me to a different place, a different world, with different people and different ways of life.' I absolutely never looked at it that way. I always saw it as a chore. Now, when I finish a book, I actually MISS it. I long for my characters to continue on with their lives and fill mine with those moments of interest and concern. Now I see. Now I understand. Sad to be 65 before you 'get it.' To give that gift of reading to a child seems now to be so essential yet I missed it. I didn't "get it". Now I do, thankfully."