Sorting

I spent a few hours today going through Mom's library.
Which isn't that much of an exaggeration. 
As she has like 30 bookcases filled with books downstairs.
And it doesn't feel like much of an exaggeration to say that there's like 5,000 books down there.

But Dad is now wanting to turn the space into something else.
So us kids have been going through the books to see if there are any we want to read.

As funnily enough....we rarely pulled books from her library to read. 

But that's basically because we kids all got into the Fantasy/SciFi sort of books.

And going through Mom's collection....she did a lot of Romance, Mystery, and Church books.

So it was rare we would actually want to...read anything.

Though it's interesting how many mystery books Mom has.
As I had quite the strong mystery phase when I was in elementary school/jr. High.
Which probably explains why I didn't read much of her mystery books.
Because they're adult novels and I was a kid during that phase. 

However I can see why and how I got my love of mysteries from her.
Lol after all we would often watch crime shows together and such.

But yah.
Going through Mom's books was quite the daunting task.
Because there's so many there.
But it's not like I have time to pick up every single book and read the premise.

So it's just kinda that 'pick up what draws your attention' sort of game.
-Like one does in any regular bookstore.
And keep the ones that sound interesting.

Which...I've ended up with maybe three shelves full of books after going through everything once. 
It's not a lot compared to my sister, who I think as managed to pull at least two book cases worth of books into her 'keep' pile.

But I'm glad I was able to find some books of hers that interested me. Some mysteries. Some church. A couple romances and some random books that didn't quite fit into any of the previous categories.

Kinda hard to go through the books though too...
Like I'm sure Mom is happy to have us all taking her books and picking out ones we think we'll read.

But she spent like my whole life putting together that library. 
Collecting books.
Keeping a list of all the authors she collects and happily marking when she found a book that she hadn't yet got.
Happily showing off when she completed a 'set.'
Remembering all those times we went D.I. hoping around the state hoping to collect as many books for her (and stuffed animals for us) as possible.

There's a lot of memories in that library.
Like sleeping on the hard floor on Christmas Eve surrounded by books, anxiously waiting for Santa to come and go so we could go look at the presents.

So yah.
Bittersweet.
To go through those shelves.
To see just how many books she has.
To see how many she never had the chance to read.

Though honestly I think she had more fun in the collecting part of it and reading the books was just a bonus.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi