Home is Where My Literature Is

Even though I don't have time to read nearly as much as I used to, I like to think that people can tell from the swirly air around me that I'm a reader. I don't know if it's true or not, but that's how I think of myself, because words make the most sense to me and stories are such a source of joy to me. I read Sarah, Plain and Tall last night when I couldn't sleep. When I was feeling dramatic but none of my roommates were home one day, I turned to a random page in Gone with the Wind. And when I am very sad, I read A Wrinkle in Time until I feel better. I must keep these books (and others) with me in case the feelings (any feelings) hit me.

And then there are libraries. I could talk about libraries for a long time. When I am in a library, I feel comforted to be embedded in so much knowledge - it's like nothing could go wrong because everything in the world is right here. 

The reasons I keep books around: nostalgia, wanting to look cool and up-to-date, pure and honest need and passion and admiration for all that they contain.

People say that home is where the heart is. My sign language professor, when teaching my class the sign for the word "home," said, "home is where you eat, where you sleep, where you are loved." Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros say, "home is wherever I'm with you." My friend Allison says, "home is where your bed is." But I've decided that, for me, home is where my books are. For reasons previously stated.

And it's not that the place where my family lives isn't my home, or the place where I sleep isn't my home, or that I'm alone in the world but for books, because that's not true. But as I grow into being an adult, I have to find my places and my things. And books, under the greater realm of words, are my place and my thing.

And so I like to keep all of my most favorite books with me always. There isn't enough room in my apartment for all of my most favorites, so some of them live with me and some of them live at home. My home can't be complete until all of my books live in the same place that I do, and that won't happen again until I finish college and live somewhere as a real-life grown-up. That is very daunting to realize.

But this is what I have to look forward to: living with all of my books under the same roof. We will sit around together after dinner and I will try to choose just one to read and I won't be able to, in the best way. And we will be at home.

Love,
Lauralicious