When You’re Ready

 

 I’ve wanted to read A Brief History of Time for a long time. However it meant choosing between satisfying my curiosity and remaining a member of a community that I loved and that loved me. Choosing between mother and a physicist that showed up on PBS occasionally was an easy choice in the beginning. As the decades past I must have visited with ABHOT dozens of times in bookstores and libraries, but praise Barnes and Noble they finally put out the right edition at the right price and I quit resisting the irresistible. I had already accepted Stephen Hawking as a teacher thanks to his excellent PBS series. I’ve let the book sit around for what seemed an appropriate amount of time, but now it's time to read it. Stephen Hawking is an excellent teacher, deftly creating the illusion of understanding. Mine is the illustrated edition and it does add a lot to the text. I wish I had read it way back when I had to make my birthday cash stretch. My comprehension at the advanced age of 51 is not what it was, but that’s ok, ABHOT waited for me this long, it won’t mind if I return to it regularly.

Thank you, Stephen Hawking, for writing it down and putting it within reach.