Thursday, August 25, 2011

Daughter of a Sparkster

Day 4 of Spark Blogfest! I have really enjoyed this week so far. Thank you Christine for coming up with a great blogfest! I didn't think I would have enough stuff for two posts never mind 4! Today I credit other participants in this fest, sparking me to remember my subconscious inspiration to love reading and writing. Today I honor my mom.

(source)
When my sister and I were little, my mom did so much for us to make us happy. She played pretend with us, she made clothes for us and for our Barbie dolls, she baked us goodies, and on the list goes. But one of my favorite memories will always be her nightly readings from Watership Down. I still remember the travels, adventures, near escapes, gory details, and descriptions of life from the perspective of a bunny! Yeah, my mom is awesome and raised us as close to perfect as you can get.

My parents are both avid readers, I can't leave my dad out. He cracks me up. He always has a book handy but the funny thing I love about his books is the stickers he puts on the covers. You know, the little sticker labels on fruit, especially chiquita bananas or price tags, remember price tags?

Seeing my parents read in spare moments set a wonderful example to make me wonder what was so great about reading when you didn't have to? And now we talk to each other about the books we're reading. It's our own private book club (my sister is in it too =)

So there you have my two favorite sparksters - mi madre y mi padre! (translation, my mother and my father, and no I'm not bilingual, I'm just silly =) Now I will go back and revisit all the other sparked up writers to see if I missed any. Thanks again to Christine Tyler for bringing us together! The comments have been awesome and it's been great meeting new people and hearing wonderful stories. I love a good blogfest!

Preview
Speaking of, I just joined the Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest that started yesterday. It's sponsored by one of my new friends, Cherie Reich. Reading may ignite the spark to start us writing, but reading also kindles the fire to keep us writing! (kindle, get it? hee hee) I am always looking for a new book =) Did you read anything good this summer?

20 comments:

Heather M. Gardner said...

Nice tribute.
I would have to say the same, that my parents sparked my reading and writing. I only hope we can do the same for our kids.
Thanks for sharing with us!
HMG

FirstTimeMom said...

Love the tribute to your Mom and Dad. I often catch your Dad in his office with his nose in a book :) I've just gotten back into reading again and love it. I'm currently reading the Harry Potter series and hope to read The Help after I'm done with that. Reading is a great way to escape from every day life ;)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

My parents read a lot, especially my mom. My favorite thing to do was hide in my room and read.

kjmckendry said...

Love this post. Amazing how much kids learn from watching the example of their parents. It's awesome they got you "fired up" about reading!

Cherie Reich said...

That's a lovely tribute. My mom reads a lot, but she read to my sister more than she did to me. I wanted to read myself and never liked having people read to me. I was weird like that.

Thanks for the mention for my blogfest. I'm enjoying Christine's Spark one and finding new books in both hers and mine. :)

Jess said...

My parents read all the time! We are a big reading family :)
Wonderful Tribute!

Unknown said...

So cool to discover that you participated in both the Spark and the Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest as I did!

My dad got me into both reading and writing...:)

MISH said...

My mum has always been a reader ... she still reads , though not as much as she used to ... I can always remember her at bedtime with a book in hand ... she'd never sleep before 12 midnight ... well she's 82yrs old now ... makes sense ... :)

Julie Flanders said...

What a sweet post, and a great tribute to your parents! I inherited my love of reading from my parents too. I loved that your Mom read Watership Down to you, one of my favorite books.

I'm glad you joined the Summer Reads Fest, I'm looking forward to your entry. :)

Anonymous said...

I started to cry as soon as I read the words,"I want to honor my mom" This couldn't have come at a better time. It's a wonderful thing to hear those words from your children. You are a great daughter and are always thinking of others. Thank you so much.
Love,mom

Abby Fowers said...

Ah! This story is so sweet! Parents play such an important role in our reading. Not that everybody will love it, but I think it makes kids learn to love literature and read more. Good share today!

ali cross said...

I love your silliness! I could totally hear your voice in this post and I LOVED that! And did you give your blog a makeover? It's cute!

Crystal said...

What a lovely tribute to your folks!! That's so cool that you have a family reading club. I can't say the same about my parents - neither of them are big readers. However, both of them are very encouraging when it comes to my writing and I can say without hesitation that my father is my biggest fan.

Theresa Milstein said...

I'm glad you joined the blogfest. I'll have to look for your post. I just posted mine.

Donna K. Weaver said...

I've read several books this summer, and a few of them aren't published yet. Enjoyed them all. I'm currently listening to "The Sum of All Men" by David Farland. It's the first of his Runelords series. I'm loving it.

Tara Tyler said...

Heather, I hope too!

Carla, glad you're reading again!

Alex, hide and read, hmmm =)

Kathy, we are now the example, it's a tough job!

Cherie, you were independent from the start. looking forward to the fest!

Jess, obviously! thanks =)

Damyanti, look forward to seeing you there =)

Mish, love our mums!

Julie, thanks! same here =)

Mom, you deserve it and more!

Abby, reading is sooo important!

Ali, yes! thanks!!

Crystal, too bad we only get together a few times a year (and email and facebook =)

Theresa, you always have a good post for us!

Donna, you're lucky! how do you get them?!

Peggy Eddleman said...

I love that they were your sparksters! My parents weren't big readers, but big on the need to constantly learn. My husband and I are both big readers, though. It's nice to hear that it might really make an impression on our kids!

Catch My Words said...

It's great when parents spark kids to read. Believe it or not, I was not a reader as a kid but I love it now.

Joyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

Li said...

Watership Down! You know, I re-read that last summer and it was every bit as good as I remembered it.

Christine Tyler said...

Love it! I'm also amused at the "gory details" in the life of a bunny. That book was quite unique, wasn't it? Good, to be sure, but unique.

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