"I don't need to learn how to read"

“I don’t need to learn how to read,” I said.

This is a picture of Mrs. Hutchinson.
She was my 1st grade teacher.

She was a kind and compassionate person.
She had a quiet, respectful presence about her.

I wish I had a better picture to show you, but I hope you can see the kindness in her face.

She is the one who taught me how to read.

Like many 1st graders, we read from the “Dick and Jane” series of books.

One day, Mrs. Hutchinson was standing next to me and asked me read to her. I struggled to form the words into sounds as my little index finger mapped out each word on the page. I found reading to be a challenge. I felt frustrated.

I stopped at one point, looked up at her and said, “Mrs. Hutchinson, I don’t need to learn how to read.”

She knelt down next to me, put her hand on my little arm, scrunched her face a little and asked in a friendly voice, “Why don’t you need to learn to read?”

Her eyes were so kind. Her hand felt so loving and reassuring. She wasn’t mad at me.

“Because my mom reads to me,” I replied.

She smiled and sort of laughed in her breath. “I understand. That makes sense. I’m so glad your mom reads to you. What stories do you like the best?”

I told her my favorite book was Aesop’s Fables and I liked stories about pirates, too. “She reads me stories before I go to sleep.”

Mrs. Hutchinson's formed into a smile as she listened to me and gazed into my eyes.

Then she asked me a profound question, “Wouldn’t you like to be able to read to your mom?”

Her kind inquisitive question permeated my being. That one question was so revolutionary and significant that I remember it all these decades later.

She could have shamed me or criticized me or gave me some long, boring lecture, but instead she asked me a simple question and that simple question changed my life.

It was like a burst of light shot through my body.

Yes! I would like to read to my mom. I could read to my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother! I could read to my cat! I could read to the trees!

And with that, my life changed.
I became a reader.

I can still remember going to the “big” Story City library and quietly looking through all of the books. I mostly remember the smell of all of those beautiful books and how quiet the library was. It was like this sacred place, quiet like church.

I read every book I could find on Kit Carson, the Box Car Children, Native Americans, Buffalo Bill, pirates and so many, many other books.

Truth be told, although I do love to read, I'm not a fast reader. It takes me time to read books, but I do love them. And I prefer books with LOTS of pictures. Books without pictures are like swimming pools without water.

So, thank you, Mrs. Hutchinson wherever you are.

You are one of my most significant people.

Me in 1st grade