Reading For Charity

It's time for Dewey's Read-A-Thon again, and I nearly missed it.  Whew!  Good thing I decided to catch up on my incredibly overloaded reader this afternoon.  If you've never participated in this great event, check out the web site and consider joining in tomorrow (tip off is at 6:00 a.m. if you live on Central Time, as I do).  If that's too short notice, start psyching up now for the October version.

A new addition to my read-a-thon will be Reading For Charity.  Last year, I dedicated my participation to my dear friend Wanda:

My participation in today's read-a-thon is in memory of my best friend, Wanda, who passed away six years ago after a long bout with leukemia.  Wanda loved to read and always carried a book in her massive suitcase of a purse.  Reading racy romances got her through many, many chemo treatments.  She would have adored the read-a-thon with a cup of tea or a glass of blackberry merlot. 

This time I'm going one step further and reading to benefit the Leukemia Research Foundation.  I pledge to donate five cents per page that I read.  Wanda voluntarily participated in several experimental drug regimens, not in the hope of saving herself, but in the hope that she could prevent someone else from suffering as she did.  This is my small way of honoring that spirit.

So, this book's for you, Butthead!  (That was one of those inside jokes between friends.  I can no longer remember now how it got started, but believe me, she knows it is said with affection and a grin.)