I want you to stop and take a minute to think. How are you reading this right now? It doesn’t take much effort to turn the weird symbols projected on your computer screen into something meaningful. At this point in our lives, we’re wired to read automatically. We don’t have to worry about vowel patterns or sound out every word.

But how did you get here?

Sure, you probably can’t pinpoint the exact moment you knew c-a-t spelled cat. But odds are, someone put time and effort into teaching you how to read. And it is time to thank them.

Thanks to the Moms who wanted only the best for their children, and read us books when we were still in her womb. Thanks for reading us bedtime stories every night. Goodnight Moon, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere.

Thanks to the Dads who read to us when Mom couldn’t. Thanks for letting us crawl on your lap and read the Sunday comics with you, even though you really wanted to read the Sports section.

Thanks to the preschool teacher who showed us how to cross our t’s and dot our i’s.

Thanks to the Kindergarten teacher who put up with us as annoying five year olds who wouldn’t pay attention on the back carpet when you read to us. Thanks for making us practice our t’s and i’s and z’s and letters. Thanks for teaching us pencil, pig, pie, and pot all start with P.

Thanks to the primary teachers who continued to teach us how to read and write. Thanks to the teachers who made us write “because” 10 times for homework, even though we hated it. Thanks to the teachers who had spelling bees, who worked with us and we needed extra help and to those who encouraged us to pick up a book.

Thanks to the teachers who introduced us to poetry. Thanks to the teachers who taught us how to use quotes in our essays. Thanks to the teachers who taught us to think critically when we read.

Thank you to everyone who had any kind of role in our language development. We owe the world to you. We’d be very limited in what we could and couldn’t do if we had never learned how to read.

So call your mom/dad, track down your Kindergarten teacher, email your high school teacher and say thank you. Thank you for setting me up for success and helping me get where I am today. I wouldn’t be where here today without you.