Where you go, I will go; where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people for your God is my God.

Friday, May 13, 2011

One thing I miss…

I am asked often from people here and in the States, what it is that I miss from “home”. 

The people—family, friends, and other dear relationships is the the answer I give most consistently, but that is just something I happen to miss about the US because that’s were most of the people I love are.  It really has nothing to do with the country itself or the way of life there.  But on the whole, I like living here, and do not usually think about the grand things the US has to offer.  Until the other day…

Rafa was about to leave for work after lunch the other day when I said to him, “You know what I miss?”  “What?”  “Books.” 

Yes people, I miss books and libraries.  I have a few books here, but they are mainly language books, a couple kids’ books, devotionals, and cook books. I also bought Rafa a Spanish version of the Chronicles of Narnia, and I am planning passing through the wardrobe once again with Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.   I miss being able to go to the library once a week and pick out books to read simply because the look interesting to me.  

I *love* getting lost in a good book, seeing and living life through another’s eyes, and going on adventures from centuries ago.  Laughing at their jokes and crying with them in their sorrows.  One hot summer week in July when I was no more than 10-years-old, you could have found me up in my bed under a heap of blankets, reading “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingles Wilder.  I was there with them living under a snow drift, eating only two meals a day, twisting hay into bundles to use as kindling, and wondering when the sun would shine again.  Yes, I was living all that in July in Georgia at the end of the twentieth century.   

I have a couple  e-books that I have enjoyed, but it is not quite the same as holding a book between your fingers and wrapping up in a blanket  to read my lamp light on the couch.   Just not the same. 

One year while living in Michigan, I lived above a used book store and walking distance to the library, not to mention the school library. Oh heaven came down!  I was a bit spoiled.  The sad thing was, I did not even recognize my good fortune!  

So the next time you see your library card or are enjoying a cup of coffee at a bookstore and pouring over a new treasure, think of me {almost} bookless in Mexico, say a word of thanks.  ‘Cause there is nothing quite as sad as not counting a blessing you have until its gone. 

2 comments:

  1. I am definitely a fellow book lover! xoxo

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  2. by the way, amazon.com ships to mexico & there is a english bookstore in mexico city calles libros libros (ironically enough :-)

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