Our Storytelling series on family rituals is wrapping up with a story that, for obvious reasons, we heartily endorse. Click here to read previous stories: Our thanks to everyone who has contributed.
One of my favorite family traditions is the reading of yours truly, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
For as long as I can remember, my dad started each morning with a thorough reading of the newspaper. As a steelworker, Dad worked shifts, of course, but no matter. Night turn would find him sleepily gazing through, day turn would find him eating his breakfast while quickly turning the pages. But the best shift was 4-to-12 when Dad would have plenty of time to read and discuss the newspaper while we got ready for school or, even better, a summer day. Many a morning's paper would spark conversation with Daddy over politics, society, comics and Ann Landers.
My family learned newspaper manners early on.
If you woke first, you made sure to scurry out to get the paper. Unroll it and be the first to breathe in the smell of fresh print. You were guaranteed to be able to read headlines first, but you had better keep the paper in order!
Dad's scowls or grumbling were occasionally heard if he found the paper out of order or, heaven forbid, not waiting in the mailbox or on the kitchen table. Don't even think of cutting out anything unless you knew positively, absolutely that you were last of the family to read the paper.
Ah, but being last meant that, hearing the morning conversations, you could skip to the "good" parts and clip to your heart's content and post on the refrigerator if you happened to find that article that everyone missed -- or even better, as a teenager, if you found that Ann Landers sided with the teens.
We all know and respect that Dad wanted the paper put back in order so that, when an article or advertisement was discussed days later, we could find it to prove a point. The stack of newspapers was always several inches high on its kitchen chair.
But, in the basement, it grew in feet, just in case, until finally Dad would recruit help to run the shredder and review old headlines as an opportunity to review history from the perspective of knowing the ending.
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The tradition continues with my own family. The start to mornings begins with a trip out to get the paper, sometimes outrageously even in my nightgown and bare feet -- a little morning flaut to the rules of society with a reward of being first for the sweet smell of fresh print now wrapped in the green bag and tossed toward the house.
We don't often get to sit together as Dad and I did to read the paper. But many an evening conversation starts with Did you see the article about in the paper this morning? My sons and husband usually catch it online and often text a prompt to check out the paper. But my middle son, Baron, and I cherish the feel and smell of the fresh newsprint.
I still call Dad to point out something interesting. The Post-Gazette has always been the paper of choice, though now that he is 88 years young, Dad also gets the Trib to read the different points of view and the McKeesport Daily News because that was always our evening paper.
I greatly enjoy my long friendship with PG columnists Reg Henry and Tony Norman, Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, and even the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer. I especially enjoy the casual acquaintances with those who write letters to the editor. I don't always agree with them but I do enjoy the opportunity to read how others think.
Oh, I relish the Saturdays and Sundays (with the gift of coupons) when I can read cover to cover the very first thing in the morning, especially when my son(s) join me.
Reading the morning paper, a gift of reading and plenty of good conversation guarantees those warm fuzzies of family tradition. Thanks, Dad!
First Published: March 8, 2009, 5:00 a.m.
