Dear Luke,

Until I started teaching, my relationship with reading was almost an entirely selfish one.  When I began sharing literature with my students, reading became two dimensional: analyzing a text with others and sharing my passion for a piece added an undeniable richness to the experience. Since I started reading with you, however, the act of reading has achieved a third dimension that is absolutely intoxicating.  What is it about this third dimension that is so amazing?  Allow me to try to explain.

Before you, reading was all about absence.  Escape.  Removing myself from the “real” world and submerging myself in another.

After you, reading has become all about presence.  Being fully present in every moment of our reading time.  Reveling in your curiosity, your questions, your observations, your undeniable interest in letters, numbers, words, and stories.  Paradoxically, by immersing myself in our reading time, I achieve the same sense of escape from reality, but it is with you as my traveling companion.

Before you, reading was about being alone.  It was a solitary act.  Even when reading a novel with high school students, the students were expected to come to class having read a portion of text and then we would discuss it.  Usually, we did not read the text together.

After you, reading has become about being together.  With you, I have discovered the pleasure of sharing words and ideas much more viscerally.  In an immediate way that was never possible with students, except for an occasional close reading done in class, together you and I explore the nuances and details and questions and morals of your stories, each of us interacting closely with the other.

Before you, reading was primarily a self-investment.  It was about me.  Through critical thinking about ideas, close analysis of beautiful writing, and pure enjoyment of a well-told story, I could return to myself and reestablish my identity as a thinker and a student of the human experience.  (Reading by myself still plays this role, albeit on a much smaller scale…for now!)

After you, reading has become an investment in YOU.  An investment in your future.  I hope that you are soaking up a love for words, stories, and ideas; cultivating a passion for the act of learning, for knowledge, and for beauty; and developing the insatiable curiosity, the ability to make connections, and the thoughtfulness that will bring you both great personal satisfaction and serve you well as a citizen of the world.

Before you, Luke, I really enjoyed the act of reading because it was fun.

After you, I love reading because it helps me grow closer to you.

At the beginning of this letter, I wrote about how reading with you has opened up an intoxicating third dimension. Why so intoxicating? I think I’ve figured it out.  Reading with you is done with Love.

Love,

Mama