One more thought

I was lamenting recently that as my nieces and nephews grow they migrate from my area of book expertise (is there nothing better than picking out a picture book) but Friday night as I shopped at Barnes and Noble I had the most delightful realization - I only lose them for a short amount of time. Today, one of my favorite people in the whole world turns 23. My niece Megan is working as an MSW with at risk kids in Rhode Island. Yesterday I went up to see her first apartment and hangout for awhile. As a birthday present I brought with me three books and explained to her the reason for each one: The Help (great literature; well developed characters); Janet Evanovich's One for the Money (fluff at it's best) and Changing for Good by James Prochaska, John Norcross, and Carlo Diclemente (it's good to read books that make you think, plus Prochaska is a clinical psychologist and professor from URI, her new home state). But perhaps the best part of the day was spent at Border's browsing the fiction section - we had great conversation about books we've read; books we want to read and what some of our favorites are (although she was reluctant to use the term favorite, "I don't think I've had enough experience with books to have a favorite,"). I love being an aunt.