A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking. – Jerry Seinfeld 

Writing is one of the last pieces of evidence that people are still grateful and giving a damn.

I write from eighty-one years of life. I write from sixty-nine years of paying attention. And sixty-five years of knowing that reading was holy, and writing was a sacred act. I thank my mother and father for both those gifts.

I thank them for not buying a television till I was around ten – though I now suspect that had mostly to do with my father’s limited income as a high school teacher.

I thank my mother for reading everything I wrote – except for my diary. That is a double thanks: for honoring the craft I had begun; and honoring my private thoughts.

As a mentor, I’ve seen damage done by parents who didn’t show interest in their child’s writing – and those who showed too much. You and your writing are family in a way that is only your business.