Look What I Found

Don't you love it when you find something you thought you'd lost? You know. Like that pair of earrings you only wore once? Or a phone number scribbled on a scrap piece of paper belonging to someone you'd promised to call, but never did? How about ... a book?

I'd gone to visit my brother knowing that I'd be poking around several shelves of books that had belonged to my father, thinking I might find something to bring back. Well. I did find something. The original leather bound copy of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE I'd read as a kid. The first classic I'd ever read, in fact.

I couldn't pluck that red book from its shelf fast enough. Once in my hands, I opened it to sniff its old book smell and remembered how much I'd disliked Mr. Darcy, and being so moved by the ending that I'd attempted to write a scene of my own. Even back then.

This book and a few others made it back to the East Coast. They stowed away under the plane seat in front of me, because there was no way they'd get checked with the luggage. I mean, what if they lost me, again? Yeah the husband thought I was nuts.

My brother has agreed to set aside a few other books that belong to this collection that I'll grab the next time I'm in California. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll find a few surprises inside them, too.