Just before the pandemic hit, I started trying to fill in the gaps of my library. Over time, books have been lost, loaned and not returned, damaged beyond saving, and so on. As a result, I had one complete set in my bookshelves. That set was Jean M Auel’s series, Earth’s Children. (Clan of the Cave Bear if you didn’t recognize the series name.)

My grandmother got me hooked on those as they were coming out, sharing her copies with me despite my mother’s protests. The series is carefully protected and never ever loaned to anyone.

Welp, now I’m thinning out the hard-copy books and I find myself with brand new books (some unread because I got them just because I love the story and want the entire set) I’m going to have to re-home. I looked into re-selling them to a local bookstore, but honestly, they won’t even pay enough for me to afford the digital copies. Second-hand bookstores are nice, but they’re not helpful to me this time.

I need to look into how the local libraries handle donations, but three months into this decision, I’ve made little progress. I know why. Regardless of the medical necessity, I don’t want to part with my books. They’re my friends. Inside each cover I find people I enjoy traveling with, people I really can’t stand but wouldn’t be without, and memories of each time I’ve encountered them.

I can pick up a book and remember when the main character did something that inspired me. I recall how a side character made a remark that stuck with me and made me think about my perception of the world.

I have to do this. I do. It’s just really hard to let go. It’s really hard when I think about how much I spent to fill in those collections! ACK! OUCH! WHOOPS!

So, I’ve been thinking ahead to what I’ll do when the books are gone and I have one or two small shelves with the ones that can’t be replaced with ebooks. One of the things I’ll do is get an actual TV stand. Currently my TV is straddled across two, long, solid wood bookshelves. It looks nice, but, with no books to hold those shelves steady with their weight, I’m pretty sure the entire thing would topple over.

I’ve set my sights on a sleek TV stand with LED lights in it. Oh yes, I’m one of those people, I enjoy the lights. I even have a string of lights that reacts to music wrapped along the top of my desk. Lights make me happy, and having lights that change color or do the blink to music thing just make me feel like a 5 yr old who just discovered how to make rainbows.

I’m familiar with the idea that we sometimes have to let go of things that aren’t good for us so we can make room for the things that are. That’s what I’m doing in this project. It’ll be good in the long run.

In the meantime, anyone want to volunteer to come and pry these things out of my hands? They seem to be a bit stuck here….