This can’t be too long of a post, because I still have to pack and call a cab for the morning and other to-do list things before I leave for Atlanta at the crack of dawn (Happy birthday, Chris Huff!!), which means I don’t get to write about the fact that I’m about to meet my French pen pal. That will have to be written on the plane.

Tonight I will tell you that I called my mom to tell her the amazing things you guys have been up to since our last phone call. Dewey Donation System saw its biggest surge of donations in one single day, with over 120 books and $350 sent to the Village Learning Place. In one day. Because you guys want to see my mom sing.

So I called my mom, to tell her how she’s a hero to Charles Village in Baltimore, Maryland, and how just one little “yes” from her has made a difference in one library.

I knew this would work, because… you know how I’ve been talking about how I take my mom out on dates? When I was very little, my first dates were with my mom. At the public library. This is where we would go, for hours, several times a week. We’d always push the limits of our library cards, taking home stacks of books. Devouring them in days. The first time my mom came to visit me here at this apartment, I took her to my local library, which is in walking distance. We were prepping to go sit by a pool for a couple of days, and needed some reading material. We took off in two different directions. When I found her thirty minutes later, we were both struggling, arms weighed down with so many books. “Pamie!” she said, “Look at this one I found!” Thirty years later, we were the same two people, pulling book after book off of the shelves like some kids are in candy stores. Like we’d won some kind of literary sweepstakes. “Get this one, too! How many are we allowed to take home?!”

Anyway, I read to her your comments and your tweets, letting her know what you gave and why, and who gave specifically because my mom agreed to this challenge. And I want you to know that some of you made her laugh, some of you made her cry, and in the end she said, quite quietly: “That’s so nice. They need those books.”

More than six donations came in just while we were on the phone. Thanks for that, you guys. I really appreciate it.

When I told her which video it is of her singing, she said, “I was afraid of that.” Then I sent her the link to the info page, which now has a few fun facts about the video and a screenshot (thanks, Dave!), and she said, “Yeah, that’s me. I look even more like my mother.” But then she gave me help on a clue for tomorrow.

“You need to call me when they reach that goal. Even if it’s tomorrow. Because I want to know, and… I think they’re going to reach that goal, Pamie. You should have asked for more books.”