Temptations

I generally avoid temptation, unless I can’t resist it.

I should avoid bookstores when money is tight. I always tell myself I’ll just look, read a little, and only purchase if it is a must.

And must it almost always is.

I don’t have issues with chocolate, or intoxicants. I have an issue with books.

Now it occurs to me why, no matter what living space I’ve occupied, I was driven out by books. First they asked me to just move over, squeeze a little. I’d do it for books, because they are worth it, and each one asks for only a little. Then they took over.

©Painting by Shelagh Duffett

I may have to sleep on the lawn, but I most certainly wouldn’t think of leaving my books there. They might, you know, get wet.

Now that I think of it, my parents’ home was walled with books. When they divorced, my father left with, as he later put it, only his books.

Briefly we had some shelf space, and then we didn’t. My mother eventually replaced the space he left with more books.

And my father’s home with his second wife got lined with books.

With such a legacy, what chance did I have?

I read them, I write them. But most of all- I get them. Then I get more.

I really should avoid temptation, unless I can’t resist.