For the Record.

Monday night was the first night in 18 months that I spent away from brown-eyed babe. Suprisingly, the world did not come to an end. When I picked her up on Tuesday evening, she blinked sleepily at me. No cries of joy, no clapping, no smiling. Talk about anti-climactic.

The reason for this milestone in my mamahood was an AmeriCorps Conference in Sacramento. Through AmeriCorps, I work at the library's adult literacy program. Apparently, California is the only state that has a state-funded adult literacy program. The rest of the nation's programs are working on yearly grants.

I learned more about a great program from Jumpstart called Read for the Record. You will see the button on my sidebar. I encourage all you mamas out there to participate. If you can't make a donation, volunteer with your local library or school, or at least pledge to read to your child. It will be September 20, 2007. This year's book is "The Story of Ferdinand", the bull who would rather smell flowers than participate in a bullfight. It is incredibly important. As early as the age of 3 there can be a learning gap due to economic inequalities. This event is a way to bring awareness to early childhood education for all children.

Last year, they set a record for the largest shared reading experience with 150,000 people participating. Hopefully, that record will be broken this year.

So go on and pledge....you know you want to.