An Open Letter to Rick Riordan

Dear Mr. Riordan,

I just wanted to take a moment to say "Thank you." "Thank you," for signing our books. But "Thank you" for so much more.

Thank you for taking the time last year, even though we were 241st in line, to ask my two boys which god they wanted to be, which book they liked the best, and which part of that book they liked best. I care that your signature is in my 1st edition of The Lightening Thief, but they could care less. They cared that you took the time to talk about them. Because of that meeting, my 6 year-old Kindergarten student decided that he wants to be an author when he grows up "just like Rick Riordan." He sometimes has to explain to adults who Rick Riordan is and he often has to explain to his classmates what an author is, but he KNOWS what he wants to be. My 9 year-old, by the way, wants to be a National Park Ranger (at Camp Half-Blood if he could be) or the President of the United States.

Thank you for the conversation I overheard between my 9 year-old and his best friend about which god they would most like to have as a father. Thank you for the ability my kids have to chase the monsters out from under their beds with a ball-point pen. Thank you for the blue cake I served at a birthday party last year. Thank you for making a "real" girl a heroine.

Thank you for making Greek mythology fun. Thank you for helping them learn. Thank you for helping them see that a classroom is so much more than four walls.

But most of all, "Thank you" for the time you have given me with my boys. They grow up so fast, but thank you for the hours and hours we have sat and read your books together. Thank you for the minutes we have taken out of our busy life to sit in the car and listen to Jesse Bernstein read just a few more minutes of your books on tape. I thank you for that from the bottom of my heat.

Sincerely,
Me

This is a copy of the letter I wrote in a fit of insomnia last night. I intend to give it to Mr. Riordan when we see him today. If you haven't read his books, they are about much more then a few Greek gods. They are about spending time with your kids.