As I was scrolling through my daily reads, I came across a blog that published this letter from Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan's editor. She passed away on Monday.
And as I was reading that letter, I was reminded of another letter -- one Mama Do, my grandmother, wrote to Ms. Oliver when the public library opened in Cooper -- a big thing in a small town. I must have been about eight years old. On that sheet ripped from a steno pad she asked Ms. Oliver to issue me a library card.
Because at that point in her life, Mama Do couldn't take me, she sent me on my own for a walk from her house on Dallas Avenue to the new library in an old house on First Street. And although it's a very small town, it's a pretty far walk.
Ms. Oliver issued that libary card, gave me a tour, and suggested I start with a book from The Boxcar Children series. I read them all plus others. And as Ms. Brown suggested -- I've met a lot of people through books.
Mama Do - Still reading. Still walking. With thanks and love.