A couple of days ago, I took my fourth grade son on a special outing, leaving the others with their grandparents. He needed a new Cub Scout uniform, which I could have ordered online, but I decided it might be fun to let him pick everything out himself. The shop is about an hour from our house.

As we drove, he finally had my complete attention. He brought his Star Wars card collection and told me about each card. We stopped for lunch along the way at the mall. When we walked in, we saw Border’s Bookstore, and my heart was racing – I don’t get there too often. “Mama, can we please go in there first, before we eat?” he asked me.

“Sure. I’ll let you pick out one book today. How’s that?” I told him.

So, guess what he wanted? A book about U.S. coin collecting. We asked the guy behind the counter where the coin books were, and it was like literary heaven for a 9-year-old. Rows and rows of coin books. While he browsed, I peeped over and saw the writing section. I CANNOT read enough books about writing. Thankfully, I didn’t see the word “blogging” on any of the covers, because of course that’s my latest passion, and I have SO much to learn. (i.e., you’re not supposed to delete an entry you later change your mind about!)

Well, I thought I would just browse. But there it was. This giant, red & gold, newly updated…Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations! I have never owned this book before. I don’t see how I finished an English degree without needing a quotation book, but now I’ve been wanting one so badly. I mean, you can look up quotes online, but it doesn’t compare to reading the pages, flipping through different subjects.

This quote jumped out at me off the back cover:

“You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”
(Maya Angelou)

I love that. I looked up the rest of the poem online here. That’s it! This is the poem I’ve had in my head since I heard a speaker at a conference perform it for us, telling us this was writing with soul. I didn’t know the poem and have thought many times about emailing him and asking him what it was that had “I’ll rise” over and over again. If you like this poem, you’ll love this one, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

I have lots more to tell you about things I found, but I’ll save it for another entry. As we were paying for our new books, I asked the clerk which of those little round chocolates were the bestsellers, and he said, “Oh, definitely the hot pink ones. The raspberry chocolates.” So I bought one. Chocolate and a new book…amazing.

I was on overload. I started talking to everybody! I feel this tremendous camaraderie with other parents pushing strollers and LOVE asking them about their children. While we waited in line for lunch, I noticed a man in a bright orange “How may I help you?” toy store shirt. What a job! He looked tired, so I asked him what were going to be the new big toys this Christmas.

His whole face lit up. “Oh, for sure, the Tumble Tigger. You know, the one that does cartwheels and flips.” He waved his hands through the air, doing wrist flips. “And of course we’ve already sold out of Holiday Barbies. Had to place a new order. I’m glad I already got mine. Then there’s the Angel Rocks from Bratz…those are going to be BIG.” He raised his eyebrows and made a “big” gesture with his hands.

Interesting. Finally, my son whispered, “Mama, you don’t have to talk so loud to everybody!”

Oh! I was becoming an embarrassment. It’s just that reporter in me. Or maybe the marketer. I love hearing people talk about their passions. EVERY person in the world has a passion and an expertise in something. What’s yours?

After lunch, we headed to the Cub Scout store. I can’t even begin to describe that fabulous place, so I won’t. All I can say is — if you have a boy…he will love being a scout.

If you have a son, try to do something just the two of you every now and then. And then write about it, so you won’t forget. They grow up fast, don’t they?

P.S. If you’re a mom of a son, you will love Jean Lush’s book, Mothers and Sons. It’s one of my favorites.