Feeling right at home

Today's 100 words:

When I go into a bookstore, I truly am like an excited kid in a candy store. I went to Barnes and Noble a couple of times last week to use the gift cards I'd been given for Christmas, and it took me quite some time to choose which books to buy: I wanted to buy everything! I'm the same way whenever I enter a library, especially some of the larger city libraries around town. When I walk in the door and see the stacks, whatever gloom I'd been feeling is lifted, gone. I feel like I've finally come home.

Shopping

Today's 100 words:

As I browsed the shelves at Barnes and Noble this past Christmas season, I saw an older gentleman with an armload of purchases. He stopped near me for a second before spotting some books piled on the floor. He hurried over to them, grabbed the one from the top, glanced at the cover, flipped through the pages, nodded, and then added the book to his stack. I wondered: Had he been searching for that book, or was it one of those desperate, gotta-find-something purchases I saw so many make when I worked retail? My money's on the latter.

Not the Mommy Guilt!

I'm feeling some Mommy Guilt today. We were supposed to get a huge storm last night, and I decided early this morning when I was awakened by sleet pinging against the window that I wouldn't take the kids to storytime today. It's held at the Barnes and Noble across town, and I worried the roads would be icy. I dislike driving in the winter, particularly since I was rear-ended a little over a year ago. Snowstorms cause me to clutch the wheel in a white-knuckled grip, praying all the while. I decided not to put myself through that today, and so I slept in a bit and woke up too late to get them to the bookstore.

 

When I looked out the window, however, I saw a gray day, yes, but only a light dusting of snow: no sleet, no blizzard, no trees bent in high winds. And so now I feel that infamous Mommy Guilt, that "I should have taken them to storytime since they love it so much" thought playing on repeat in my mind. I know my kids won't care; they may not even realize that today was a storytime day, but I feel guilty nevertheless, just one more guilt to add to the already towering pile.

 

Mommy Guilt: bah!