Mama Thursday: Thank You, World Book.

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
-Mark Twain

I was thinking about what in particular I hated about my last job. It wasn't so much the job, but the people. That place was full of early-twenty-somethings. And though these people were only a few years younger than myself, they had a shockingly different worldview. You know what I'm saying -- it's the one where they want everything handed to them on a silver platter simply because not getting what they want when they want it would wound their fragile, all-important self esteem.

After finding myself surrounded by this caliber of people for several years I slowly got jaded. Surly, even. My new "normal" had become "bitter". This frightened me.

Now why in the hell have I been thinking about a job I quit two years ago? Here's where I bring us back to Mama Thursday.

I'll be damned if I let my daughter grow up to be one of these vapid, helpless non-adults. I had to rely on a great deal of self-sufficiency while growing up, and while the reasons for that may not have been ideal, self-sufficiency is something I want to make sure Lily has. One of the greatest gifts of my childhood was a set of encyclopedias. If I had a question about something or wanted to know more about some random thing I'd head on over to the bookshelf. Sometimes I'd just plunk down, pull out a random volume, and start reading a random page. Does that make me a giant nerd? Maybe. But it sparked a lifelong interest in learning. I can say that I literally want to know everything about everything. I want Lily to feel this same sense of curiosity about the world around her. I don't want her to retreat into herself the second she can work a computer mouse. Why read a book when there's Facebook, Netflix, video games, and TV? It only takes a few brain cells to operate these things. Why strain oneself?

I love where she is right now (unable to even sit up by herself) but I'm super excited about when she learns to read. We'll explore the world together, encyclopedias in hand.