My mother had nine kids, three dogs, assorted cats and a house-call making- small town -family physician husband. She was a voracious reader who would go through the Globe and Mail every day devouring the world...and I mean literally - eating every corner, down the edges...oblivious to the phone; lost in the machinations of a world she would later spend all her energies trying to change.

Two things:

I learned the price of privilege is high and should never be discounted.
I learned to never eat books.

j