Second grade with Dad and Priscilla

Dad and I bonded over baseball. We loved the Orioles with a similar passion as Priscilla had for the outdoors. Once I had sufficiently prepared myself for school in the mornings, I liked to check the sports section of The Washington Post and memorize the box score from the previous night’s baseball game. You could have asked me anything and I would have been able to tell you, even when I was only in second grade. While I certainly enjoyed The Cosby Show and other age-appropriate television, Dad and I spent most of our nights watching Mel Proctor call the Orioles’ games. I’m not sure what Priscilla thought about this; she never said anything one way or the other. She may have simply appreciated the respite she could take in the evenings when Dad and I left her alone.

Priscilla loved to read, and I really mean loved. She had a passion for the written word that I have never encountered in anyone else. She found true delight in the pages of books and she was always recommending something to read to someone. Once Dad and I had settled in for an evening on the basement sofa with the Orioles, Priscilla would remain upstairs and usually she would read in bed. As a child, Priscilla encouraged me to read books by Jil Ker Conway and I poured over pages about Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst, active leaders in the suffragette movement. Priscilla passionately wanted me to learn more about educational and intellectual interests and although they were not-so-coincidentally her own interests, I know I benefited from her persistent support.

(I also had the support of my mother, another voracious reader. One Christmas or birthday, my mom bought a handheld Donkey Kong game for me. When we opened it, it did not work properly. Mom asked me if I wanted to exchange it, or return it and spend the money at Waldenbooks instead. I chose Waldenbooks.)

Having developed these reading habits at an early age, I rebelled at the dinner table. Most nights we ate in front of the same basement television (our only tv set) that would later showcase the Orioles and watched the McNeil Lehrer NewsHour. Sometimes I would tune in with Dad and Priscilla, but most nights I chose to read a book instead. Then I might head off to the bathtub, book in tow. I was so thankful when Priscilla contracted a remodel for my bathroom – the new bathtub had these wonderful handles that were perfect for resting my arms while reading. I don’t know if she designed it that way intentionally, but I like to think that she did. She was very observant and while this characteristic did not always manifest in an outward display of generosity, Priscilla did quietly do the most unselfish, considerate things.