Editor's note: We close 2019, and our month of Gratitude Notes, with a last note of reflection and aspiration. It seems fitting as we go forward.
My father read newspapers out loud.
On Sundays, after church, he’d walk across the street and buy a handful of Sunday papers at the newsstand. Then, when we got home, he’d read them and, when he found something interesting, read it out loud, unannounced and with feeling, to anyone in the room.
I hated it. It seemed so parental and…uncool.
But how weird is this? All these years later, here I am thankful for it. Although I don’t remember any of the stories, I do remember the takeaway. Newspapers were interesting — so interesting that he just couldn’t keep himself from reading them out loud to his eye-rolling boy.
And how cool is that?
Now I want to write things that my father would want to read out loud.
My father read newspapers out loud.
On Sundays, after church, he’d walk across the street and buy a handful of Sunday papers at the newsstand. Then, when we got home, he’d read them and, when he found something interesting, read it out loud, unannounced and with feeling, to anyone in the room.
I hated it. It seemed so parental and…uncool.
But how weird is this? All these years later, here I am thankful for it. Although I don’t remember any of the stories, I do remember the takeaway. Newspapers were interesting — so interesting that he just couldn’t keep himself from reading them out loud to his eye-rolling boy.
And how cool is that?
Now I want to write things that my father would want to read out loud.
Greg Bowers ~ retired sports editor and journalism teacher, freelance writer
