October 19 - barely

I finally made it to my hotel in Manchester, CT at 11:40 ET. While the day was quite long - the 2:00 flight from Philadelphia to Hartford was cancelled, as was the next one and the one after. And when I went to get a car to make the 3.5 hour drive, there were none available. That meant either flying to Boston and driving for a couple hours or waiting until morning with the airport hotel booked solid. Weather can do that to you.

However, it was a good day! No, it was a great day!

I got the chance to get some work done and read a book by Andy Andrews called The Noticer. While there were many insights in the book, the one that came early and made me think about education, was the call to read books about great persons. One of the main characters in the book is an old man named Jones. He states the importance of reading when he says, "Other people's experience is the best teacher. By reading about the lives of great people, you can unlock the secrets to what made them great" (p. 9).

It reminded me of why it is so important we as a society - educators, parents, and community - do all we can to help our children read better. Studies have shown the importance of reading to young children as well as the benefits to having a larger vocabulary and this book reinforced for me why I must continue to read all I can. Particularly on the lives of great men and women. I'm going tomorrow to pick up a book (after I go pick up my luggage :) - who will you read about?