OMG, I'm moving!  I know - this is not news, but somehow this week it's visibly happening.  I actually just packed my first carton two days ago. 

I started with my books.  My books are like friends.  I know exactly which one to reach for to get what I need.  Their absence from the shelves makes me feel lonely.  I've had some books for a very long time.  One book, "The Prophet", I've had since I was 19.  I remember just how it was introduced to me.  I had just moved into the City.  My friend, Johnny Z... called and told me I had better sit down...'cause he was going to read something to me that would knock me on my butt if I wasn't already on it.  It did. Ahh, love at first listen.  "There are men to gentle to live among wolves" by James Kavanaugh was also an instant love.  I couldn't stop buying everything else he wrote. 

I have many books that I've loved for years.  Books, unlike people, are never jealous of each other.  They are secure and confident in their status.  Although there may be long periods that I am engaged with other literary loves, I will always return to them.

Eric Butterworth's book literally fell on my head when I was sitting on the library floor searching for answers in the Spirituality Section. I flipped through the pages and came to the chapter that told me my brother Mike didn't "come to stay, he came to pass". 

I just thought of how Susan H....& I  loved to read "Winnie the Pooh" to each other.  One of us would be in the bath, while the other would be reading.  We would get hysterical laughing....we were 19. Seems that 19 was a good year for new books.  

A few years later John bought a Pooh book for me.  He also bought me a stuffed Piglet, hand-made by Agnes Bush, then the other characters followed.  Years later, I read from the very same book to my children.  Joshua, Ben & Barret  would all gather on my bed after their baths to have  me read Pooh stories to them.  Timeless, fabulous humor...we would also crack up laughing.

There is consolation in knowing that when I finally do move to our new home, my old friends will be there waiting for me.  They will have brought my history, my memories, consolation, hopes, dreams, adventures and my escape routes to.....everywhere I have been and anywhere I may need to go.