LA Festival of Books!

This weekend I went to the LA festival of books. It seems to have become a tradition for Emily and I, along with my brother Jonathan and his family. That’s nice. A tradition! Since moving to California and since Jim left earth, it seems like our traditions, our celebrations, and our family has gone on hiatus, or even worse – been cancelled! But every year we look forward to the book festival with all the new releases, the unique and fun related items, and meeting authors. I love that so many people still love books. In this technological age, it often seems that books are nearly extinct ( or are about to be cancelled), especially when places like Borders died. But then we go to the festival and hope is restored and we bring home a new “friend” or two.

Books are like that for me.  Friends. Some say I have way too many, and whenever I sort through and part with some of them I am always sad.  It is hard to let them go. Just like my human friends. Actually, it is hard to let anything go these days. Like Jim’s trombone, which sits in the hall closet waiting to sing again. Like some clothes which have long gone out of style and are way too small, but remind me of some happy memory. Like the toys that my kids loved but have out grown and someone else could be loving . Like the trinkets that we thought would be of some monetary value but will never even pay for a meal at Chick-fil-A let alone put anyone through college! It is a life-long struggle for me to learn what to let go of and what to hang on to, both figuratively and literally.