Sometimes when I look around, I'm sure I catch tiny revealed glimpses of heaven. Sometimes it's when the sunlight casts just the right glow on an autumnal tree--and the color seems to burst from within. Sometimes it happens when I feel overwhelmed with my school kids, and a student from years past sends me a card or email, or comes by to visit. Sometimes it happens when one of our children is sleeping, and like a bolt from the blue, I realize that I really am someone's Mommy. The sense of awe is staggering all over again!
This morning, the joy surge came as I entered what must be my favorite spot in this whole town--Half Price Books. Now typically I'm there for a reason. I'll need a certain book to model poetry, or I'm on a mission for a cheap decorating book because I need a good color (should have used this strategy before painting the front door Massacre Red....) Very rarely, though, on the most wondrous of days....there's no reason. No time limit. Nothing standing between me and books as high as I can reach. Wow, I get euphoric just thinking about it! :)
It was raining this morning, and this past week has been the longest of my teaching career, and I was craving a sanctuary from the busyness of everyday life for just a few minutes...and someone there knew all those things! Norah Jones was on the sound system like a perfectly choreographed movie moment--because isn't Norah Jones just the only choice for a rainy morning in a bookstore? The rough-hewn bookshelves make me smile, because I always think that someone just couldn't wait to load them with illustrated treasures, and was in such a hurry that they didn't even sand and paint them first. The walls are not fussy, the floor--simple concrete, and there are no pastries or expensive coffees to distract from the main attraction--the books.
And oh! The books! I settled into the well-worn cushy chair at the end of my favorite aisle with a book of photographs of religious signs along U.S. highways. Every page made me smile. Also in my stack was Words to Live By, by C.S. Lewis; a compact NIV Bible with a compact price (I'll bet I could even fit it into my already crowded purse!); cottage decorating books, Veggie Tales DVDs for $4.00 each; A Norman Rockwell Christmas, which made me miss my grandparents; and The Daring Book for Girls by Miriam Peskowitz with a flap that reads: For every girl with an independent spirit and a nose for trouble. Rose, they DO write books for us! :) They're just geared more toward 6-12 year olds....
I wasn't there all that long. Just enough time to blow the vapid air from my brain (that happens when you inhale the smell of musty pages at close range, I'm told), and to make a few selections. But, oh! Joy!
I bought the C.S. Lewis book. Here's one of the first thoughts on one of the first pages: The great thing is to be always reading but not to get bored--treat it not like work, more as a vice! (Amen!) Your book bill ought to be your biggest extravagance. Hear, hear! Except at this venue, your book bill doesn't have to be that much of an extravagance.
I even picked up a SchoolHouse Rock video, Grammar Jams, for $1.98.
Bliss.
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