Connie tells about replacing a family treasure and the opportunity it brings

This week I wrote about saying goodbye to the piano I bought second-hand for my daughter when she was just nine, and I was still making my way as a single mother. That beloved piano bears the weight of so many memories, it’s a marvel it can still stand on all fours.

This was a necessary but emotional goodbye for me, and as soon as I had decided to donate it, I made a plan for what would replace it. I know my heart, and it was not up for the sight of that big, gaping hole in my favorite reading room. I did what I always do when I can’t figure out what a room needs: I ordered more bookcases. I had culled hundreds of books over the summer, but we still need more shelves for those that remained. I do not subscribe to the theory that books are clutter, nor do I believe that, once read, they should always find new homes. How could they possibly be happier anywhere else?

Many of our books are full of marginalia, which my husband and I agreed on our first date is the best way to honor an author’s work. As an author, I confess that nothing fluffs up a writer’s ego quite like a reader who shows me one of my books full of handwritten notes, questions and critiques. I may not have been present for the reading, but I was very much part of the conversation.

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To fill the space of the departed piano, I ordered three bookcases. They are inexpensive, and required a handyman – thank you, Task Rabbit! – for assembling. We own some expensive bookcases, and I’ve lived long enough to see the folly in that. Once filled, they all look pretty much the same and I will enjoy telling visitors to our home what I spent on these new ones because I live in the Midwest and that is what we do.

Much of the middle bookcase, the most visible of the three, now holds dozens of children’s books that used to reside in baskets all over the house. I have loved the splendor of children’s books all my life, and long before our grandchildren showed up clamoring for a story or two, or eight. No matter how bad my week, introducing a book to a child makes me feel useful in the world.

So, now all our children’s books are in one place, with room to spare on every shelf so visiting children can easily explore the titles and pull them out with that look of excitement on their faces. We’ll keep adding new titles, including my own that comes out next year, but we will not abandon favorites. I never tire of watching The Paper Bag Princess give the insufferable Ronald a piece of her mind, or holding my breath until cardinals Red & Lulu reunite after their favorite tree moves to New York City at Christmastime. Thank goodness Miss Rumphius never runs out of lupines to make the world more beautiful, and every time we read The Polar Express I listen hard to make sure I can hear the silver bell.

What a relief, at this age, to still believe in magic.

- Connie Schultz

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