My Books- Mrs. Lindquist

 

                *I dedicate this slice to my book-loving friend, Mel Swider Wenz.*

My books have traveled 12,850 miles. All twenty-one large Sterilite bins of them.

Across the United States and back again. Twice.

I started my vast children’s book collection forty-six years ago, and I might add

that I rarely paid for a book. Rather, I used the bonus points I accumulated

when my students ordered books through Scholastic Book Club. Each time

I ordered a book for my classroom, I ordered that same book and put it aside for

the children I hoped to have one day. By the time I was pregnant, I had amassed

two well-stocked libraries – one for school and one for home.

When I began preparing the baby’s room for our first daughter, I purchased a

bookshelf before the crib. I lovingly put every book I had saved on the shelves

and organized them by the author. Sort of nutso. By the time our second

daughter was born, I had quadrupled my collection, and by the time I retired, well,

who knows how many I had stockpiled. I loved reading to my girls and did so until

they went to middle school. I was sad when this special time ended but happy

to have instilled in them the same love of reading that I have. I kept those books

on the bookshelves of our house until the kids had moved out, and my husband and

I decided to downsize our home. That’s when they went into the twenty-one bins.

After we sold the house, we moved into an apartment and waited for the perfect

house to come along. (Mel SW, that one's for you, too.) My husband moved most

of our belongings into a storage unit, including the bins of books. Nine months

later, we found our next house, and he moved those bins (without cursing) out of

the storage unit and into our basement. 

“Why do we (which really meant “I” because he was the one to move them) have to keep lugging these books around?” my husband once asked.

“Why, they are for our grandchildren, of course!” I answered. 

After our eldest daughter got married, I happily gave her all of the books. My husband was thrilled about the newfound space in our basement. I knew the books would always stay in the family and be ready for my younger daughter one day. Fortunately, my son-in-law was in the Air Force, so the military shipped the books on their first journey. . .to Alaska. . .then Maine. . .then Las Vegas. . .and, finally back to Maine. In the middle of these moves, along came Isla, my precious granddaughter.

Now, the books are prominently displayed in their living room. There is no television – only shelves of books. And guess what. My daughter organized them the same way I did! Grammie just loves reading to her granddaughter every weekend and is delighted to see her “read” them to herself! And, of course, there was a grand sense of nostalgia when both of my daughters opened up the books again. 

Except for pictures, I quite literally have saved nothing for as long as I have my cherished books. I’m sure they will travel many more miles and be read many more times❣️ 📚

This pic is unposed. I snuck around the corner and snapped it!