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For Christmas, I asked my parents for a copy of the book “Dewey.” The short novel tells the tale of the library cat in my hometown of Spencer, Iowa. I had seen Dewey peering at me from the cover of “Dewey” on a shelf at Prairie Book and Gifts. It brought back a lot of childhood memories.

I really wanted to buy it that day, go through the east door and park myself in Blue Moon with a hot cup of coffee.

But my children had other ideas – like taking every book off the shelf in the children’s area and wrestling to win a seat on the coveted rocking horse. Not a coffee day for me, but I knew my folks would come through.

A few weeks later, I had my book. (Thanks, mom and dad!)

I wanted to read it right away and wasn’t three pages into it before Monkey #1 came into the room asking if he was old enough to read it. I asked him if I could finish it first and then we would talk about it.

Monkeys #2 and #3 thought the picture of the kitty was cute and wanted to see all the other pictures (there’s a children’s version of the book available, too…and is now on my list). I marked my spot and decided to wait until things were quieter.

That night I sat back down and started reading. The author, a librarian I knew from my school years in Spencer, described how she found Dewey in the book return slot and then described the town of Spencer and all of Dewey’s antics.

I kept wondering what town she was describing. It couldn’t possibly be the same place I grew up! She made it sound like a Norman Rockwell picture. I kept reading and finding names and places I knew, and, of course, Dewey was always there. Perhaps he was something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

When I talked with my dad about the book, he said I probably wouldn’t remember any of the charming things the author described. He and my mom had never taken my brother and me to any of these events even though we lived there for more than 10 years.

I thought about that and decided life isn’t just what you make it. When you are young, life is what your parents help you make it.

Here in Hastings we have the Celebration of Lights, Kool-Aid Days, Prairie Loft, Hastings Community Theater, Hastings Museum, the Children’s Museum of Central Nebraska, two book stores, summer concerts downtown and in the park, a thriving downtown, an awesome library — the list could go on forever.

There are so many things for my kids and I to do together here in Hastings! I don’t want them to grow up, read about their hometown, and say “There is no way I grew up there!” It is my job to make sure they understand all the wonderful things about where they are growing up.

Civic pride in the young helps build strong and lasting communities. It makes them want to get an education, come home and start families and businesses.

I just wish that someone over at the library would consider getting a cat!

About the author: Denise Howie

Denise Howie is a wife, mother and preschool teacher. She spent her formative years in Minnesota and Iowa, graduating from Iowa State University. After working in the publishing industry for 6 years she became a stay-at-home mom who rarely stayed home! Denise moved to Hastings in 2006 with her husband and three children and dove head first into life in Nebraska.