On March 24, 2023, I drove myself over to the Urbandale Library in order to pay $3.00 for a book from interlibrary loan. The chatty librarian asked if I had heard about the library’s big book sale, with emphasis on BIG. She handed me a four-by-four flyer with the date, Friday, April 21, 2023. It was nearly a month in the future and I could already feel my anticipation building. I put a note on the calendar. I decided not only would I go, but I would be first in line when it opened.
All month, I’ve been mentioning the sale to Wendell. We have to go on the first day, my adolescent self insisted. I was so excited!
When the opening day rolled around, it was cold and the wind was fierce. I was working on my blog post for that week and wanted more time to find an image, edit, post, and schedule it for delivery. And I just didn’t feel like going. I even played the sour grapes card, convincing myself there wouldn’t be any books for me anyway. When I said this out loud to Wendell, he chuckled, “I can’t imagine you not finding books that you want.”
Wendell – who doesn’t seem to have an all-or-nothing bone in his body – suggested we just go tomorrow – Saturday. I tried not to berate myself for not going on the first day. All afternoon I kept thinking I should just go out, get in the car and go. If I don’t go on the opening day, it won’t be worth going, I told myself.
It was still cold and windy the next morning but we followed through on our plan. Walking into the sale room, I was underwhelmed. I didn’t see anything I wanted. Then looking in the fiction section, I shrieked with delight when I saw My Struggle, Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard. And then, Book 2, Book 3… In total, there were six books with the title of My Struggle. Wendell helped me pull them out one by one. I’d wanted to read Knausgaard for a long time.
I was in heaven! I bought all six volumes at $1.00 apiece. So what did I learn? That I still get caught up in all-or-nothing thinking. But I am more mature and could listen to myself (I didn’t feel like going on Friday) and I did listen to my husband despite my misgivings.
IMAGE: In one or two words, what is your struggle? Can you imagine writing six books about it? Please comment in the comment section. I love to hear from you!
