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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

107_yroldvirgin Week 100: Ever the Same



107_yroldvirgin
Tuesday




Picture 1


Picture 2


107_yroldvirgin’'s Choice: Picture 2

Title:

Ever the Same


When I was a child, my days were spent between the stacks. On my back in the sun, hunched over holding new worlds as they unfurled around me and blocked out real life for just the smallest amount of time.

Riding my bike to the library was invigorating. Perusing the aisles and filling my arms with words and thoughts so new to me that my mind blossomed open, hungry for more.

We owned a boat and I would take care to bring only the ones that could fit into plastic sandwich bags and that I wouldn’t cry too hard over if they became ruined, as they often did through choppy waves and smelly lake water that would seep over sides and across my feet as I held on tightly, waiting for dry land, dry towel, motionless moments to escape with these characters...

And then life got in the way and my dear friends were long forgotten. Up on their shelves. Tucked away in boxes or given away because I just didn’t ‘have the time.’ The spaces they occupied were now filled with pictures from school, of dances attended, snapshots of life on the outskirts. Jeweled cd cases filled those empty places. Letters passed in class became jammed between the wooden slats that once held what was once so very important.

Time passed, words were forgotten.

Until a spark of interest many years later sent my feet into a store filled with words on pages. And the smell ... that smell of paperback and print made my eyes close and chest seize up with happiness that had been missing for so long. And I slid to the floor, between the stacks, hunched over with spines bent and covers curling to inhale and marvel that some things never change.

They stay the same no matter where life takes us.

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2 comments:

Angelica Dawson said...

God, this took me back. The library was my favorite place growing up, running my finger along spines until one caught my eye. Wonderful piece.

alby said...

Oh, how I remember the smell of my favourite childhood bookstore - it was The Antiquariat, and in my heart, it's still magic. <3