The Greatest Gift...

The other day I was thinking about how my knowledge and creativity came about.  I thought about my father.  He was for the most part a silent force in his kids life.  But, when I was very small, he fell for a door to door salesman's sale pitch and bought a set of "New Standard Encyclopedias".  I now realize this was because he valued knowledge so much.  He and my mother were children of their time, and only went through possibly an 8th grade education.  Good enough for their generation.  The Encyclopedias were given a place of honor on a shelf in a built in cupboard with doors.  Whenever any member of the family, or visitors had a question, the first thing my father would say is "get the book."  This meant one of us had to go get the encyclopedia dealing with the subject, look up the topic, read aloud for all to hear, whatever it was we were curious about or needed to know for school.  I can not remember not having that resource in our home, along with a dictionary, and the Bible.  All were used as needed to answer whatever questions we had as we grew up.  What a remarkable gift my father gave to me, without me really realizing that he was giving me a gift!  I have used it on a daily basis!  The source of gaining knowledge has changed now to more technology but the concept is the same.  I don't know if I ever thanked him for this...  probably not... wish I could now.