Written by My name is Lori, and I’m a book hoarder.
Whew. It feels so good to admit it.
I’m not looking to go to therapy though. And I’m certainly not planning to change my ways anytime soon. I figure if there is anything in the world that it’s probably okay to hoard, it’s books. And I don’t think you can ever have too many.
Well…unless you literally have so many that there is not even an inch of room left in your house and you’re forced to live outside in a little makeshift shanty in your backyard. Then, it’s probably time to seek some professional help and start downsizing the collection. But I’m not even close to that, so I’m probably okay.
For now.
And I do want to point out that my book collecting has significantly slowed in recent years. I’m no longer a student, so there is not a steady supply of textbooks finding their way onto my shelves. And now that I’m juggling the duties of being a full-time wife, mother, writer, and photographer, I don’t have quite as much time to even sit down and read anymore.
I’ve hit a lull…well, for myself at least.
Now that Cadence is in preschool, I get to revisit the excitement of those Scholastic book order days. Oh, they were my favorite! As soon as the teacher passed out those little paper catalogs, I would work myself into a frenzy–reading descriptions, circling books that I couldn’t live without (which usually ended up being at leave 3/4 of the catalog), and then hurrying home to show my Mom and start begging her to let me order.
My parents were hardworking folks. They both put in long hours at full-time jobs so they could keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clothes on our backs. We took the occasional vacations, and we always had gifts on our birthdays and at Christmas time. While there were plenty of things we did without, one thing Mom and Dad hardly ever said no to was books. Sure they had to keep me in check, and my 3/4 catalog order usually ended up being whittled down to just 3-4 books at at time, but it was enough, and I never complained.
Thank goodness I now have Steven to keep Cadence and I in check on Scholastic book order days. Otherwise, the two of us would surely be in trouble. The girl already has a bookshelf overflowing with books (yeah, I went on a children’s book buying binge shortly after the pregnancy test came up positive), and she is now at the age where she is starting to check books out of the library at school, and she loves to bring them home and read them every night before bed, and sometimes just carry them around the house reciting the story from memory.
Yeah, that’s my girl.
And now even Cosette seems to have been bitten by the book bug. When Cadence woke this morning, she found the little elf giving Five Little Monkeys one last read before Cadence had to return it to school.
Smart little elf. You can never go wrong with a book.
And, on an unrelated note, has anyone noticed that Cadence is completely incapable of actually looking at the camera for a picture unless she’s making goofy faces? I wonder where she got that from?
Lori Romano 