The Most Heavenly Place on Earth

The other day, my mom and brother had an appointment with the dentist, and I opted to tag along. I was planning on hanging out in the waiting room, perusing the variety of magazines that are always strewn across public coffee tables, learning details about the lives of people that I don't keep up with otherwise, or picking up beauty tips that I'd never implement. I enjoy running errands with my mom, even if I end up sitting in the car (or parking the car across three different lines in the parking lot... but I'm working on it =).

My plans were foiled, though, when I noticed, tucked in the same strip, buried behind the foreboding sign of a local eye doctor's office, a secondhand book store. I took one look at my mom and gushed, "Can I please go to the book store? I have my cell phone." To which, of course, she responded "Yes."

I raced down the sidewalk and walked into the open door of the bookstore. It was as quaint as a corner book shop ought to be, a place that belongs in a small country town at the end of a winding, tree-lined road, or a little hole-in-the-wall in a bustling city, frequented by true lovers of literature. I love the sight of books stacked on shelves, burgeoning against book ends. I love the smell of their yellowed pages, the character of their weathered covers.

The dimly-lit shop had an eerie atmosphere: every conceivable surface was covered with towering stacks of books. Shelves lined every wall, they marched in a disorderly array across the floor, crammed so closely together that there was barely standing room in between them. There wasn't a salesperson in sight.

"Hello?" I uttered tentatively, moving forward with -I admit -a death grip on my purse.

An elderly woman peeked up from behind a stack of books. "Well, hi, there! How can I help you?"

I spent the next hour perusing familiar titles and conversing easily with the kind saleswoman. She was highly amused by my reverence at the sight of so many reasonably-priced books. "Obviously, you love literature." If I would have had three more hours to spend in the bookshop, I would have. If I had three hundred dollars to spend in the bookshop, I would have.

I had had a bit of a stressful day that day, but I felt the stress melting away as I flipped through the pages of a volume of poetry. I might be an extrovert usually, but I was completely comfortable being alone with those books. I think my idea of a perfect day (one of them at least) is a day spent in the presence of so many books. (One thing I love about our home are our libraries; we have a library upstairs, bookshelves at the head of the stairs, and overflowing bookshelves in each one of our bedrooms. =) If I could have sat in one of the benches in- the bookstore and read to my heart's content for a few hours... that would have been a little slice of heaven. As it was, I left with quite an armful of books to read on my own time.

I think the only way my experience could have been better would be if I had started reading, not in the car, listening to a jazz station, but back in Bangor, in the sitting area at the back of the house we stayed in, surrounding by windows looking out at the garden beyond, curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket with a steaming cup of tea on the coffee table, knowing that when I got done reading, I could walk down the quiet lane to visit the park that stood on the edge of the beach, and read while I watched my adorable brothers play in that heavenly grass, lush from the constant drizzle that sprinkles Northern Ireland. But, life's not quite perfect... we can't have everything can we? =)

What's your idea of a perfect day?