Appreciating Apples

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

I have so much respect for teachers. 

My mother is a pre-school teacher; my sister was a kindergarten teacher; my friends have dedicated their lives to a humble (but immensely rewarding) teaching profession, and quite frankly, I don't know where I would be today without my first grade teacher, Mrs. Cooper -- who graced me with the gift of literacy at the tender age of 6. I picked up my very first book and read it from cover to cover. I loved every bit of it, and haven't stopped loving it since then.

Back then, my family didn't have money to go on lavish vacations, so books became my portal for traveling to wherever my imagination would take me, and goodness gracious, the possibilities were endless. I remember tilting my head up and wishing meatballs really would fall from the sky as it had in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; I remember envisioning a room filled with golden silk threads with a little, old, wrinkly man riding on a spoon after learning about Rumpelstiltskin, and I remember feeling my first pangs of injustice seep in after finishing my first chapter book, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. To this day, I gift all of my friend's children with childhood literacy...it is truly the only gift that keeps on giving.  And when I do travel, my hubby and I collect children's books in different languages, from different countries.  We would love nothing more than to create our own multicultural library in our home one day, and judging from the stockpile we've amassed over the years, I know we're well on our way.   

" You're never too old,
too wacky, too wild,
to pick up a book,
and read to a child! " 

 -- Dr. Seuss

For all my teachers who have helped nourish my passion for reading, 'Thank you, Thank you."
Happy Teacher Appreciation Day...you are the apples of my life.

Stay Inspired,

Chandara