The other day my older daughter published her first book. Kids in first grade spend the year learning to read and write. My daughter, clever little girl that she is, wrote about what she values. She wrote a book entitled "How to read." It was a great book and I was very proud of her. In that book is a line that my mother used to use. It goes something along the lines of "If you can read you can do anything." My mother was of course an English teacher and she was profoundly responsible for my love of language and words in particular. Occasionally I get some flack (guff, grief, cruft, crud, wailing and gnashing of teeth) for having a love of words. Big ones, small ones, tall ones and fat ones. I love them, all words great and small. It isn't arrogance nor is it an attempt to make people feel small. I just love words and so, on occasion, (probably too often), I use archaic or overly complex language. Can't help it. My mother's fault probably.

Anyway, I really do believe that the ability to understand and put to use the written word is fundamental to success and I am not shy about sharing that with my children. I just ordered all of James Harriot's books for my 6 year old. I loved them as a child and I am sure she will as well.

Back to my point. (Sorry this is taking a long time.) I picked up hockey pretty late in life. The day I graduated from CU with my MBA a group of us decide to stop stretching our brains for a little while and stretch our bodies. So, having never skated, I got a bunch of gear and signed up for a league. I approached learning to play hockey like I approached engineering. I got all the required equipment and I picked up a book. In this case, Laura Stamm's guide to power skating.  Anyway, I recall being dreadfully earnest about my approach. I skated three of four times a week and I thought a lot about it. I am slow to learn these kinds of things, but I worked awfully hard at it. I recall picking up a neighbor (about 16 if I recall) to take him to the rink with me. He had played hockey since birth and it was natural for him. I recall explaining (a bit pompously if I recall) my approach to skating and hockey. When I told him I was reading a book to learn how to be a better skater he cracked up. He said, and I quote, "You are learning to skate by reading a book? Dude, the way to learn how to skate is to skate."

 Thinking about it, he was right. A book can only get you so far. You need to go out and just do. Only by doing do we learn how and only by doing and failing (and succeeding) do we learn how to be better. So, probably a obvious note, but every once in a while the obvious needs to be said. Just showing up, working through things and doing our jobs makes us better at them. Books and tutorials and lessons all help. But the best teacher is experience.

Also, Alexandra, what a great book. A how-to book on how to read. I love it!