Joy!Don’t you just love the energy and pure happiness on this, the face of my very first bookstore customer?! Once you took in her radiant smile I bet you noticed boxes on the floor, huh, and nearly no books on the shelves? Well, that’s because I wasn’t truly open when this lovely and determined book lover saw our “coming soon” sign, wandered past carpenters finishing the trim, and poked her head in — calling “YOOHOO!” I was there trying to make sense of where to put 10,000 books, and she excitedly asked if we really were going to be a bookstore and if she could look at picture books for her grands. Charmed, I remember pawing through the piles of boxes to find some children’s titles and letting her have at it. Soon she had a stack, so hooray ... except I didn’t have a cash register yet. I can’t remember if or how she paid - but this photo is recompense enough, isn’t it? (Another funny thing is that on the morning we opened for real, the first person to walk through the store asked for a donation to their local cause! It’s all good; we are so very much a local bookstore.)Independent Bookstore Day celebrates local bookstores, and it’s a week from Saturday, April 29th. It’s the 10th anniversary of IBD and my store is turning 10 too, so as you can see I’ve been taking a look back. I've turned to a rather quaint framework to organize my reflections: something “old” that still brings us joy, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Enjoy my one-take video walk-through of Prairie Path Books here, if you will, celebrating one of my oldest ownership passions: children’s books and the celebration of stories with our littlest ones. Oh yes, indeed — our love of armchair snuggle-storytimes was a very personal passion: here’s my husband with our wee three maybe twenty years ago. Loving our littles with books never gets old, now does it?!Next up: Something NEW we’ve added ... love to all, fondlySandy
SPRINGTIME HAPPY READS
