1937 - A Most Eventful Year

I was curious about all the things that happened in 1937, so I did a little research. Here are some of the events of that most important year:

• The first issue of Look magazine was published.
• Michigan celebrated 100 years as a state.
• Popeye gets his first statue in Crystal City, Texas.
• The Hindenburg blows up.
• The Golden Gate Bridge opens up.
• Flag Day becomes a State Holiday in Pennsylvania.
• Amelia Earhart disappears.
• Spam is introduced by Hormel.
• Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres.
• The Lincoln Tunnel opens.
• Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is published.

And here is a list of some of people who were born:

1. Dyan Cannon
2. Jack Nicholson
3. Yvonne Craig ("Batgirl")
4. George Takei ("Sulu")
5. Morgan Freeman
6. Waylon Jennings
7. Don Bluth
8. Tom Paxton
9. Virginia Downs!

As you can probably tell, there is one very important person in that list whose birthday is most important to me - my Mom! Because she had a very profound influence on my life, not only because she gave birth to me, but also because she taught me the value of reading. Our house was always full of Reader's Digest Condensed Books.  Like this one, which is one of my particular favorites:

Notice that the book is falling apart. It's been loved (almost) to death.Were there any other of those books in the house, they would probably be in the same state -- but this is one of the few from my childhood that ended up in my house. I have a lovely set of children's story books that I treasure as well, but they could use a bit of book-binding as well.

All of our children are avid readers. And much of that is due to the environment we grew up in, where the house was full of books and the greatest pleasure in the world was getting hold of a new one we hadn't read before.

I always think of my Mom when I read these books, and how she encouraged her children to read. Sure, we made sure we got our chores done first -- um, mostly -- but she did a fantastic job of teaching her children to love books!

Thanks, Mom! And Happy Birthday!!

(Yes, this is a little late, but I've been busy. Reading.)