Not a Pest!

So, I cracked open "Ramona the Pest" and read the first chapter to the kids.  I received for my efforts a, "This book is boring!" exclamation from Elias...but he still sat and listened to the entire chapter. 
But on the first page of the book, before the title page or first chapter, I found these words written in my childish print, "Not a pest" and then my signature in my sloppy cursive.  Then as I was reading through the chapter I read these words, "Great big noisy fusses were often necessary when a girl was the youngest member of the family and the youngest person on her block." - Now, I was the youngest in my family and the youngest in my neighborhood.  I don't remember having "great big noisy fusses" much, but maybe I hoped I could have more when I was a kid.  Maybe that is why little Ramona, as flawed as she was, has a special place in my heart.