the weekend of bookshelf

On Friday my latent nesting instinct kicked in 6 months after moving.  I hung some of my pictures, and started going through some stuff. I even found a bookshelf on Craig's List Friday afternoon.  I emailed the dude and arranged a pick up that night: I borrowed a truck, gently coerced a neighbor into helping me unload it and bring it upstairs, and got the guy I bought it from with one of his neighbors to help me load it.

It was a bit daunting because the sucker was heavy.  In some ways it was nice to be a single woman because people were more willing to help me.  It was a little frustrating because I had to do it on everybody else's terms (I wanted to do it Sunday, the seller wanted to do it Friday; the neighbor helped me move it upstairs at 10 pm, etc.).  But, I ended up with what I wanted at a price I could afford-- I got a $100 check in the mail earlier this week that more than covered all the associated costs.

I unpacked all my boxes of books-- at least 12.  Bibliophiles, you know how great that feels.  I found some ones that I'd really missed: Wendell Berry's Collected Poems, NT Wright's Jesus.  And, in my 3 ring binders, I found my transcripts for my Master's.  I through away a lot of paper, and have a box of books to donate.  I'm a natural born pack rat. 

I love the bookshelf because one square is devoted to Russian novels, one square to poetry, etc.  And the shelves are deep-- so I have two rows to them.  I'm sure it'd cause an anal person a panic attack, but I love it!

The whole experience was empowering and humbling.  Friday night was full of tedium, but I organized three aspects (truck, pickup and drop off) with relative ease.  It was humbling that people were so willing to help for nothing in return.  Having my books was a little emotional because they reflect different periods in my past and bring back memories.  I unpacked Latin, Greek, Spanish, and English Lexicons.  Books I bought in Japan and Peru.  My Jonathan Edwards biography, which is surprisingly good.

I figured out a class I want to teach on writing spiritual autobiography, and two books I'd use as texts.  I found my personal training text books I need to come up with a strength workout for myself.

Much like training for a marathon, I feel like I was handed another key piece of my identity.