I Say Books Are Friends - Who Is With Me?

It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog, so it’s good to be back in the saddle.  Unfortunately, moving twice in less than a year (and buying a house earlier this year) kept me so focused on other things that many of my writing activities got put on hold.
 
Because we knew last year that we would be moving twice, most of our possessions stayed packed in boxes for nearly a year, until we moved three weeks ago into the house we (hopefully) will be in for a while.  This included my many boxes of books.
 
So it felt really good to finally be able to unpack all of my favorite romance stories I collected over the years.  I have mentioned my large “keeper shelf” in the past, I’m sure most of you aren't surprised to hear I had 15 bank boxes of romance paperbacks to unpack.  (This doesn’t include the many other boxes of research books, writing craft books, and other types of fiction and nonfiction on bookshelves in our house.  It also does not include the three boxes of cookbooks I haven’t unpacked yet because I do not yet have a place to put them.  But I digress.)
 
As I said, finally being able to unpack my books was a milestone I eagerly anticipated.  Even so, when the day came, I was surprised by how good it felt to pull books out of each box.  It dawned on me that seeing those books again was like seeing old friends after a long time apart.  And why not?  They are old friends – friends who helped me through stressful times, celebrated with me during happy times, and who readily forgave me for ignoring them most of the past year.  Like other true friends they were always there for me, patiently waiting until I was ready to open their pages and visit them again.
 
So here’s to friendship.  Maybe it doesn’t matter who or how long or what type of friend any of us have.  Whether human or pet or paper or digital, good friends are something to cherish.  To someone who doesn’t love books, including books in this might sound odd.  But I’m betting most of you are nodding and agreeing with the sentiment. 
 
So thank you, my friends, for patiently waiting through my long blog absence.  Now, I’m going to pick out one of my book friends and have a long conversation with it, one page at a time.  I’ll be back to visit with you next week.

---