LINDA'S LIBRARY

We all have someone in our lives that leaves an indelible mark. This for me was my mother, Linda P. Beck. She was a force of nature, opinionated, stubborn and determined who had a love of family and faith. She went back to college later in life and finished her Bachelor's degree and then got her Master's degree in Library Science. She was a librarian and family geneologist who loved almost nothing more than being caught up in a great mystery! An avid reader, she (and my father) instilled a love of books early in my life by reading to me stories such as "Treasure Island" and The Gold Bug". This love of the written word passed on to me and is the reason that I started this online bookstore! Shortly after her retirement we noticed small changes in her personality and at the young age of 68, she was diagnosed with the double curse of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This terrible disease quickly took the smart woman we all knew. The last couple of years were dedicated to spending as much time as we all could. My mother's faith helped her make peace with the diagnosis and she actually came to look on it as a blessing. We lost her the summer of 2018. There are no words to express the grief I have felt since. However every time I thought about wallowing in my own sadness, I would think of my mother, who despite hardships and setbacks in her own life, always believed you got up, got dressed and went to work.  She believed that you keep moving so this is what I do. This is how I make my peace: I have set up a fund called Linda's Library and in her honor, I am donating .25c of every dollar spent on the site to Literacy and Alzheimer's programs in my region (which is South Carolina). I know she would be happy knowing that her memory is inspiring future readers and helping end the blight of dementia. I have always said that my bookstore was a labor of love because of what it gave me back but now it will truly become a labor of love for what it can give back to others.