Book it!
I crossed something off my ten year "to do" list this week. I purged, organized and re-filed our entire book collection.
It started with a dream... more shelf space! But necessity made the dream a reality. We recently built a home office in the basement for my husband to use. This household already supports 4 computers (2 for work) and a wireless internet network. We were running out of desk space!
This space shortage also coincided with my husband's emergency need for office space, after his company closed down his regional division. True weekend "do-it-yourselfers" that we are, within 6 weeks we went from studs to wall-to-wall. (Some folks are weekend warriors on golf courses, at the gym or on ball fields. Not us. If you build it, we will come.)
But the real pay-off for me was the new and improved shelf- space. I've waited years for this kind of library system. I know the internet has its advantages, and you can Google just about anything, but there's nothing quite like the feel, the texture, the permanance and the presence of a good book.
In 23 years of marriage, I have lived through my husband's Master's program, three children in elementary school, two in high school, three career changes, my own graduate work, and twenty years of spiritual and secular reading. Every room in the house had books in it--even the bathrooms! The basement had shelves and boxes with books; , the attic had more. Now, I love books, but they were taking over usable space in our home.
It was truly cathartic... one part nostalgia, one part archeological discovery, and one part "clean sweep." I reread passages of books that I just had to open once they were in my hands. I got to dump stuff that once-upon-a-time I was too stupid to realize was junk. I got to re-cycle books to younger families who can use them. I got to collect all our devotional reading and place it in one spot. All the reference works are together. Our coffee table book collection now has its own shelf. My son's classic comic books finally have a home. We've got fiction and non-fiction, new authors and the classics. We've got books to teach us, tax us, tease us and tickle us.
I realized how much we have grown and how much we've yet to learn! My "must read" book collection grew from 3 books on my night stand to 28 books (as I've found books I've misplaced over time) that now I can't wait to read! I packed away out favorite story books for our future grandchildren. And I have three boxes of childhood readers that will be donated to an elementary school, hopefully, somewhere in post-hurricane Louisiana. (I'm still working on that idea.)
I am truly grateful for the gift of literacy: the ability to read and write, learn and grow. I reflected on some of our family milestones. I renewed my own commitment to study harder, read more, watch less television, and yes, do less web-surfing.
I found a sense of accomplishment in bringing order to these books, so that others could benefit from their treasury-- now that some have been unearthed from the far corners of the basement and attic. I reflected on some of our family milestones. Like the family photo albums (which also are more accessible) our books tell "our story" as well. You are what you read, as much as you are what you eat.
But most of all, as I sorted our well-used Bible collection, I understood that our family members have the Ultimate Gift: a knowledge of the Living Word, and a relationship with the Author of Life .
Copyright 2006 Patricia W. Gohn
It started with a dream... more shelf space! But necessity made the dream a reality. We recently built a home office in the basement for my husband to use. This household already supports 4 computers (2 for work) and a wireless internet network. We were running out of desk space!
This space shortage also coincided with my husband's emergency need for office space, after his company closed down his regional division. True weekend "do-it-yourselfers" that we are, within 6 weeks we went from studs to wall-to-wall. (Some folks are weekend warriors on golf courses, at the gym or on ball fields. Not us. If you build it, we will come.)
But the real pay-off for me was the new and improved shelf- space. I've waited years for this kind of library system. I know the internet has its advantages, and you can Google just about anything, but there's nothing quite like the feel, the texture, the permanance and the presence of a good book.
In 23 years of marriage, I have lived through my husband's Master's program, three children in elementary school, two in high school, three career changes, my own graduate work, and twenty years of spiritual and secular reading. Every room in the house had books in it--even the bathrooms! The basement had shelves and boxes with books; , the attic had more. Now, I love books, but they were taking over usable space in our home.
It was truly cathartic... one part nostalgia, one part archeological discovery, and one part "clean sweep." I reread passages of books that I just had to open once they were in my hands. I got to dump stuff that once-upon-a-time I was too stupid to realize was junk. I got to re-cycle books to younger families who can use them. I got to collect all our devotional reading and place it in one spot. All the reference works are together. Our coffee table book collection now has its own shelf. My son's classic comic books finally have a home. We've got fiction and non-fiction, new authors and the classics. We've got books to teach us, tax us, tease us and tickle us.
I realized how much we have grown and how much we've yet to learn! My "must read" book collection grew from 3 books on my night stand to 28 books (as I've found books I've misplaced over time) that now I can't wait to read! I packed away out favorite story books for our future grandchildren. And I have three boxes of childhood readers that will be donated to an elementary school, hopefully, somewhere in post-hurricane Louisiana. (I'm still working on that idea.)
I am truly grateful for the gift of literacy: the ability to read and write, learn and grow. I reflected on some of our family milestones. I renewed my own commitment to study harder, read more, watch less television, and yes, do less web-surfing.
I found a sense of accomplishment in bringing order to these books, so that others could benefit from their treasury-- now that some have been unearthed from the far corners of the basement and attic. I reflected on some of our family milestones. Like the family photo albums (which also are more accessible) our books tell "our story" as well. You are what you read, as much as you are what you eat.
But most of all, as I sorted our well-used Bible collection, I understood that our family members have the Ultimate Gift: a knowledge of the Living Word, and a relationship with the Author of Life .
Copyright 2006 Patricia W. Gohn
posted by Pat Gohn at
2/02/2006
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