And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street.

It's been a while since I've dedicated a post to someone who inspires me. The kids are finally asleep, the husband is out playing tennis and it's just me, my thoughts and the keyboard.

Tonight I read my kids a book titled The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. It wasn't particularly exciting or interesting. In fact, it was long and I kept searching to see how many pages I still had before the ending... 20 more. Sheesh! While reading, I had to hold back a smile while thinking about Zack who was struggling to eat his oatmeal this morning and said, "I keep on taking bites and more bites and it never gets any smaller." That's how I felt about this book. I wondered why it was published and if it was the author's first book. After doing a bit of research, I found out it was his second, which makes a lot of sense. He was just getting started.

In his early thirties, Ted Guisel was returning home from Europe with his wife when he found himself reciting a couplet that went like this:

And that is a story that no one can beat,
And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street.

After mumbling it over and over, the wife encouraged her cartoonist husband to bury his couplet in a children's book and lay it to rest. That is exactly what he did. Twenty-seven publishers rejected it, telling him the book would never improve the character or learning capacity of a child. But publisher #28 liked the book and decided to take a chance on Mulberry Street. It was printed in 1937 and became the first in a long line of classic.

For over 70 years, Dr. Suess, as Ted Guisel is known to most people, has entertained countless giggling children and grateful parents. He never had any children of his own and publicly stated, "You make 'em-- I amuse 'em." Over 200 million copies of his stories have found their way into hearts and homes around the world, including mine. He died in 1999 with over 60 books published, eleven television adaptations, three movies (with the Lorax coming out in 2012), two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the Pulitzer Prize.

I would really like to know what his wife was thinking when she encouraged him to write his first book. I wonder if he felt discouraged after being turned down for the 20th time. In his early thirties, I wonder if he knew the kind of impact he would make on the world. And out of everything I read tonight, I am most touched by the recognition Ted Guisel gives his mother. The author states that both his ability and desire to create the rhymes that made him famous must be credited to his mom. Henrietta Seuss Geisel often soothed her children to sleep by reciting silly rhymes from her youth. And that, my friends, is inspiring to me. What we do matters, especially if it influences the life of a child.

Some of the best Dr. Suess quotes:

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!"

"You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut."

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not."

From my boys' all-time favorite Suess book: There's a Wocket in my Pocket
"All those Nupboards in the Cupboards they're good fun to have about.
But that Nooth gush on my tooth brush.....Him I could do without."

And my favorite line from MY all-time favorite book: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

"You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!"