Hour 23 – Our cheerleaders

We know we are each others cheerleaders throughout this 24-hour readathon, but who do you have close to you? Including the furry, scaly, or stuffed kind too.

My dad wasn’t a book reader, instead he was a magazine and newspaper guy, but he was a learner. Every day it was understanding something new and asking plenty of questions about anything. As he’s gotten older, he’s reading more books in addition to his traditional items and he’s a big fan of a good conspiracy theory.

My mom was the bodice-ripper romance novel reader. She always had a bookshelf downstairs and picked them up at garage sales as I was growing up.

My brothers- one was a reader of the science fiction variety, the other one preferred to be outdoors and barely read what he was asked to in school, let alone on his own.

This was what surrounded me growing up. It was more about ways to learn which included books rather than daily and weekly trips to the library and massive bookshelves at home. But there were plenty of visits to the library and bookshelves nonetheless. I became a reader and a writer because I liked what I explored in those mediums and here I am decades later. This includes acting as my two boys’ and husband’s cheerleader. They’re audiobook listeners including mysteries and nonfiction. Plus what middle school boy doesn’t have an obsession with Dog Man, Hilo, and Harry Potter? In turn, they can always be counted on to leave me alone (especially during readathons) but check in on my progress, and usually for an hour or two, will participate themselves.

And as long as our 130-pound dog can be underfoot, he doesn’t really care what we’re doing, but he’s okay if I have my headphones on when I’m walking him because he knows I’m reading. He’s a good dog like that.

We make time for reading. Before bed. If it’s a casual weekday or weekend, it definitely happens at the table while eating. We go to the library… often. We know our indie bookstore sellers by name.

Think about who surrounded you growing up. Did they provide support for your reading or have you come into reading later in life and was lured in by another reader who provided the support and recommendations that you needed? Who surrounds you now to cheer you on?

Maybe when the clock strikes hour twenty-four, you can put down your book and say thank you to those cheerleaders in your life.

*****

Find me on Instagram and over at my blog, Readers Be Advised.

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