Okay, I have a crush on Tom Barron

Today I finished The Ancient One by T.A. Barron. I met Tom several years ago at the University of Mississippi Conference of the Book. He was so charismatic, and I was thrilled to meet and talk with him. Susan got me a shirt that said, "I read The Ancient One" so I bought the book. It has taken me this long to read it.

Tom's inscription to me inside the book read, "For Paula, May you reach as high, and sink roots as deep, as a great redwood tree . . . Yours, Tom." On the other books he signed for me that day, he signed them to the children, but this one - he signed for me.

The Ancient One is a YA fantasy book which is why I waited so long to read it. When, I closed the last page, I knew why Tom dedicated Kate's story to me. I, too, am a lover of trees. I also can hear sap rising and trees breathing (and granite pulsing) if I listen long and hard enough in the wilderness. It is this ear that keeps my heart beating while doing carpool and running around like a crazy mother. It is this connection that makes me who I am.

Tom wrote this book in 1992 when environmental topics were just floating to the surface. The words hold even truer today. It was a great reminder of our connection and our devotion to the things that "I" believe in.

I finally did read The Ancient One (and I have the shirt to prove it), but I have been living its precepts my entire adult life!!