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The Lesson
By Nancy Lindquist | July 27, 2007
“Mom, can you help me?”
“Just a minute, I’m writing a thank you note.”
He appeared behind me. “What for?”
“To thank the person who reviewed my new book.”
His brow furrowed. “I thought she didn’t like it.”
“Nope, she pretty much hated it.”
“So why?”
He wanted to know why his mom was bothering to thank someone for something he perceived as a bad thing. “Because she took the time to read it and offer her comments.”
“Her comments suck.”
I laughed. He’s never read my books and I may never let him read my books. Still, anything mom does is 100% perfect. At least while he’s little.
I sat him down and explained how not everyone will like my work. How I’m not writing it to make everyone happy. That’s not my job. My job is to make the people who like what I do have a good read that makes them smile. Still, she’d read my work and written her thoughts. It’s nice to thank people in the world.
”Will it make her like your book more?”
“Nope.”
“I still don’t get it.”
Frustration crawled up my spine. Not of my sons doing. At least not completely. “You thank someone because it’s the right thing to do. Even if it won’t help you. Even if it sometimes hurts you. You treat others as you want to be treated and you try to understand that she was not trying to make me, or you sad. Not at all. She was just doing what she does. She was just being herself.
“You mean like when I annoy you and you still bake me cookies?”
I smiled. “Close enough.”
July 31st, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Great story!
I love the cookie analogy!
If you want me to review some of your books @ The Mo Show blog, just let me know!