One of my favorite afternoon tunes to involve myself in is the bookstore. I have no salutations, special membership cards, or any sort of loyalties; i like them all. Some are more like a starbucks that you only go to because you 'have to' get this certain book on a whim and you know this big branch bullshit bookstore will of course have it out on their nice, new, shiny, fake wood tables with a sign stating that these are 'must reads' pretending that anyone in that store or is employed in that store has yet to read any of them. I like small bookstores, cozy couches, nooks and crannies, off center pictures that tilt to one side; as if to say hey i've been here a while and i like what i have seen. There's always the musty smell of books (my favorite!) instead of the nice new clean smell you get at some bookstores that is then overpowered by the smell of churning coffee at a nearby outlet.
I love the freedom and imagination in a bookstore. The best is when walking in to have no expectations, you're entering a world where knowledge is power, you can stumble across any book when browsing, one that could relate to your life at this current time or one that holds the power of a good crossword puzzle on a stormy day. I love the imagination that flows off the pages, there are so many things to learn under one roof there, think of all the words in a book, now think of all the books in a store, knowledge is right at our fingertips. What i love more than just perusing through books and making my way down narrow, organized aisles? Postsecret books.
For those of you who don't know what postsecret is, it will change your life. Visit postsecret.com every sunday and see for yourself.
More than that the secrets that are left behind in the books, i love the fact that it was not only enough for someone to read such a powerful compilation but to then set a part of themselves free and let their secret go with the book onto someone else, who may share the same secret or find ease in the peace of someone elses.
Upon my latest trek to the bookstore i finally found one. I've only found 2 before but i didn't get them at the time and one fell underneath the bookshelf before i got to read it. This day was exceptionally hot for the Twin Cities and i probably should have been outside frolicking about or doing something under the sun, but instead i passed by this bookstore that caught my eye, i was on my way to meet someone but couldn't resist the zeal this little place had. Upon entering, i immediately fell in love, it was one of those bookstores with the ladders on the wall that roll acrossed the store.
I casually thumb through a couple books that catch my eye, nothing promising me a desire to be finished within the next week so i set the books down and head to the very back of the store. Glancing downwards i see the postsecret book that i have been ever so stingy to buy but have longed to read, i remove the selection from the surrounding books, which were all in alphabetical order except this one, first clue. I turn open the pages and love what i see, i take a seat on the thin and obnoxiously scaly carpet, i dont care; i found my book.
i looked through the whole thing front to back, and realized that i was late for my coffee date, when i stood up to put the book back into 'its place' a little folded up piece of paper fell out, i lit up like the fourth of july, could it be? is this the moment i've been waiting for. That it was. I quickly unfold the note to see scribbled barely legible handwriting on the back in blue pen. Verbatim "If I hadn't text you that morning, would you have stayed in your lane and seen the other car coming? I am terrified you died bc of me. "
A little tear formed in my eye, how would someone ever live with that guilt? How could someone forgive themselves? That's a heavy load to bear. But then at that moment i realized that because i had read that secret, someone now knows. In a weird, inadvertant, 3rd party manner; i've come to help set a little part of someone free. Will i ever meet this person and know their secret? Probably not. Will i ever be recognized by the person that pulls my secret out of that book? Highly unlikely.
-That's the beauty of secrets, we have two kinds. Ones we hide from others and ones we hide from ourselves, i have a feeling that person had been holding onto that for a long time, walking around convincing themselves that this was all their fault, and if ever i could meet them and give them a big hug my first words would be 'it was never your fault'. Setting that free is a powerful thing, and i hope they chose that day to leave that guilt behind and instead remember that person in the best of times, if we always dwell on the what-if's we're going to miss out on the right nows & what-are's.
I love the freedom and imagination in a bookstore. The best is when walking in to have no expectations, you're entering a world where knowledge is power, you can stumble across any book when browsing, one that could relate to your life at this current time or one that holds the power of a good crossword puzzle on a stormy day. I love the imagination that flows off the pages, there are so many things to learn under one roof there, think of all the words in a book, now think of all the books in a store, knowledge is right at our fingertips. What i love more than just perusing through books and making my way down narrow, organized aisles? Postsecret books.
For those of you who don't know what postsecret is, it will change your life. Visit postsecret.com every sunday and see for yourself.
More than that the secrets that are left behind in the books, i love the fact that it was not only enough for someone to read such a powerful compilation but to then set a part of themselves free and let their secret go with the book onto someone else, who may share the same secret or find ease in the peace of someone elses.
Upon my latest trek to the bookstore i finally found one. I've only found 2 before but i didn't get them at the time and one fell underneath the bookshelf before i got to read it. This day was exceptionally hot for the Twin Cities and i probably should have been outside frolicking about or doing something under the sun, but instead i passed by this bookstore that caught my eye, i was on my way to meet someone but couldn't resist the zeal this little place had. Upon entering, i immediately fell in love, it was one of those bookstores with the ladders on the wall that roll acrossed the store.
I casually thumb through a couple books that catch my eye, nothing promising me a desire to be finished within the next week so i set the books down and head to the very back of the store. Glancing downwards i see the postsecret book that i have been ever so stingy to buy but have longed to read, i remove the selection from the surrounding books, which were all in alphabetical order except this one, first clue. I turn open the pages and love what i see, i take a seat on the thin and obnoxiously scaly carpet, i dont care; i found my book.
i looked through the whole thing front to back, and realized that i was late for my coffee date, when i stood up to put the book back into 'its place' a little folded up piece of paper fell out, i lit up like the fourth of july, could it be? is this the moment i've been waiting for. That it was. I quickly unfold the note to see scribbled barely legible handwriting on the back in blue pen. Verbatim "If I hadn't text you that morning, would you have stayed in your lane and seen the other car coming? I am terrified you died bc of me. "
A little tear formed in my eye, how would someone ever live with that guilt? How could someone forgive themselves? That's a heavy load to bear. But then at that moment i realized that because i had read that secret, someone now knows. In a weird, inadvertant, 3rd party manner; i've come to help set a little part of someone free. Will i ever meet this person and know their secret? Probably not. Will i ever be recognized by the person that pulls my secret out of that book? Highly unlikely.
-That's the beauty of secrets, we have two kinds. Ones we hide from others and ones we hide from ourselves, i have a feeling that person had been holding onto that for a long time, walking around convincing themselves that this was all their fault, and if ever i could meet them and give them a big hug my first words would be 'it was never your fault'. Setting that free is a powerful thing, and i hope they chose that day to leave that guilt behind and instead remember that person in the best of times, if we always dwell on the what-if's we're going to miss out on the right nows & what-are's.
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