Wandering

Yesterday I went walking through Barnes and Noble. I was in desperate need of a book I could just get lost in.  Going in there and expecting to walk out with only one book is like jumping into a pool and expecting to not end up wet. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm only saying I've tried it a million times and it hasn't happened yet. I accept the fact that I will never not buy something when I visit, so I've tried to limit myself to a certain dollar amount and that seems to work...most of the time.

I walk through the isles staring at all the titles on all the covers that I will never look past.  Occasionally one might catch my eye, but if the blurb doesn't sell me then it doesn't make the cut, and back on the shelf it goes. Not to be caught judging a book by it's cover, but I'm on a budget.  Familiar authors and titles are scattered among those I have never seen before.  I have to touch each cover, as if the paper feel of it will help me find the chosen few that will come home with me.  I honestly wish I could take them all with me, even the ones I know aren't that good, and trust me when I say those do exist.  I just want to get lost in someone else's head for a small while.  I want to see the world through a fresh pair of eyes, even if those eyes have only seen in someone else's imagination. I want to be living a new life and go on some unheard of adventure, even if it's only for a few hours.  I want to get to know these people who will never actually be, and at the same time they will live much longer than I ever could. I want to...no, I need to feel emotions that stem from someone else's universe, because my own emotional entropy can't be conveniently placed back on a shelf when I need to deal with my life.  It is my minds eye, with the help of these words, that can form everything from spaceships to relationships, all that hang in the balance every time I turn a page.

Every hour spent wandering is worth even the few minutes of escape I know it will grant me.

~Bridey J.