The privilege and pleasure of reading: a letter

Today, I  received this lovely email which is a good reminder of the great privilege & pleasure it is to have readers of my work…and how great my father is [I've redacted the names for confidentiality]:

Dear Gary,

Almost every night, my little angel O____ wants to read The Magic Mustache. She smiles, she learns, she counts the number of words, she learns the senses... and she laughs!!!

Every night that she picks that book, I feel I am holding my miracle baby, my angel from heaven. O____ is almost four. After having 5 miscarriages after my first baby and dealing with a big fertility clinic here in Ottawa, my family doctor said: before you make the decision of ending your dream of having 2 children, please go see another doctor, Dr Barwin. We did.

The first meeting we had with your father, he simply said what was wrong with me. He gave me some shots a certain day of the month...a Saturday morning and nine months later, our baby girl was born. After many scares, he took the time to see us whenever we felt the heart of the baby had stopped, and gave us a present for James.

Our son J____ was 5 at the time and was never very interested in The Magic Mustache. He preferred Scooby Doo or Diego but O____ is fascinated by your book.

Thank you for reminding me how lucky we are to have met your father...and you, through The Magic Mustache.