Day 214 – How to read and write…

“Well then, you have that to look forward to.”

Years before I ever met Chet, I was sitting at a family gathering with my step-grandmother.  Genevieve was a lovely and extremely bright woman.  A former curator at the Chicago Historical Society Museum, she could easily be described as “well-read,” because she was.  Despite her age (she lived to be 102), Genevieve could be found reading ALL the time.  This was particularly impressive to me, because I could be found reading NEVER.  In the 20 years following college, I probably held as many books as I did world records.  Once, when I was marveling at Genevieve’s remarkable reading habit and admitting to my own lack thereof, she very simply and politely said, “Well then, you have that to look forward to.”   It was as if she somehow knew I would one day discover the joy of reading.

Enter Chet.  Chet got me to read.  But he didn’t challenge me to read, he inspired me to read.  He made every book seem like a good mystery, with deeper meanings and melody lines hidden beneath the surface.  The manner in which Chet not only read, but thoroughly digested a book, then applied his interpretations so usefully through his building of others, inspired me to start reading, too.

It’s safe to assume that no one reading this now has ever read less than I once did.  So, I’ll stick to the melody line of Chet’s Day 214 entry… How’s your re-reading?  Not great?  “Well then, you have that to look forward to.”