Saturday, March 12, 2011

One Thing Leads to Another: Books and Baggage

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We finally bought the bookcase that I have dreamed of for years: one that I hope will hold most of our books that are currently all over our small house. Today, if you want a certain book, you may have to go to every room before you find it.

This new one is an unfinished oak cabinet that B has begun sanding and finishing.

However, this large 5’x7’ bookcase must be mounted to the wall for safety; and this requires that we paint that wall before we mount the new case to it, as it is long past due for a fresh, clean look.

After weeks of consideration and some trials, we have decided on what we hope will be just the right shade of green paint, and last night purchased the necessary painting things.

So I have spent  part of this morning, clearing off the wall to be painted, which (of course) already had our largest bookcase on it. So all of those books have to temporarily go somewhere else. In finishing this, I came to the last chore: going through this year’s Christmas cards that have been patiently waiting in a large glass jar. It has not been laziness that has made me delay in this, but strength. I knew that I would find in there my mother’s last Christmas card and note to us.

It was not accomplished without tears.  Her major stroke came on Christmas Eve and adjusting to life without her positive voice and beautiful face is hard.

I have made a promise to myself that the first book on the new shelf will be one in which one of her poems was published.

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