My Treasures....My Books

Here I am with all my garden chores done for the year. I'm starting to "live" inside again. Oh, I'll be out....to the pool, to the grocery, Dr. appts, lunch with friends, and many other activities, but later on these activities will depend on the weather.

I sat for a while this afternoon....looking at some of my books. Books are a treasure to me. I still order new ones..many are used books. I love to open an old, worn book and see the markings and underlining...maybe some special words that a person has written. A little note stuck in between pages...or a leaf or flower pressed and crumbling. Books with post it notes are from more recent times.

It has always been hard for me to write in a book. I know how much I love reading books with notes in the margins, but I just simply couldn't do it. I guess that my upbringing had something to do with it. I had so few books and my parents couldn't really afford to buy very many. I was told to take special care of them....so they could be passed down to a younger cousin.

I remember the first day the encyclopedia set came into the house. I was so excited. We didn't get the World Book...like I wanted, but the Funk and Wagnall's set. The World Book came into the house later on, when my younger brother needed them. He was 13 yrs. younger and my parents were in a better financial situation at that time. The Funk and Wagnall's did just fine for me...

Now days, I realize that my books are my books. Someday they will be passed down to my two kids. I take good care of them still, but now...I write some things in the margins, underline meaningful things, stick a post it note on certain pages. I have a special flower or two pressed in some.

The other night I looked in a Catholic Woman's Bible that I hadn't looked at for a while, and found a note written there about my son Tim. Several Masses were said for him after he passed away. I looked up a favorite verse from the book of Timothy to put on thank you cards for the Masses. It took me back to that time, and made me remember. Someday, someone else will open that Bible and see my note about him. I hope that they get that same feeling that I did.

So, as winter comes, I will sit in my chair and pick up a book or two, and underline and leave some notes...if I want. After all....they are my books...for now anyway.

Balisha