1/20: remembering a kindness

A friend of the family recently passed away--a former husband of one of my parents' earliest students.  I didn't know him particularly well--I was young when they would come back to visit my parents--but I remember that during one visit he gave me his copy of  The Name of the Rose.  It had just recently been published in English, and I had (also just recently) read about it in the NYTBR.  When he heard that I was interested in reading it, he gave me his copy on the spot.  I don't think he was even done reading it himself.  Coming across books was harder in those days--there was no internet to order from, and less "discretionary income" was available to me as a freshman in high school!  It was a wonderful gesture on his part.  It made me feel grown up and plugged in, and I'm sure I didn't thank him for it enough.  I'm sorry to read of his passing and to think of his loved ones' loss, and I'm grateful for the reminder that little things like that can be important.