Friday, November 26, 2010

Working for her

I just read several posts that my wife wrote while I was in New Orleans for work last week. Several times, she mentions that I never have to work for her. I have to confess that I'm not really sure that I know what that means. When I was icing my sac after my vasectomy in March, I sat and plotted out how I could fix the problems that I had caused by stubbornly refusing the delay my surgery. I ended up not needing those plans, but that's the closest I can come to having a picture of what working for her looks like.

She also went into detail about her feelings that I settled for her. Those comments really upset me. We've been through some pretty heavy stuff in our relationship, but I've never thought about leaving her. I love her too much. Maybe we could debate the first couple of months of our relationship, but once I fell in love with her, I've never wavered. She seems to have a much bigger issue with my lack of serious relationships prior to her than I do. We had a great night last weekend, but rather than just be pleased with the outcome, she questions the validity of my judgement. It's frustrating for me. She's making issues where there are no issues to worry about.

Friday, November 5, 2010

The bittersweet thrill of a library book sale

I spent $10 at the VCU Friends of the Library book sale last week. That got me three hardback books, three paperbacks, and 4 comics. I made a really nice find of an organizational behavior book, The Social Psychology of Organizations. That book is going for $50 on Amazon. I paid $2 for it. I've already read one of the books, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, but I've wanted my own copy for awhile. I won't add these books to my book list. I save that for books that I buy new (which I have also been doing).

Finding good books cheap is always a thrill, but when I see all of these books that were once cherished and displayed in book cases being discarded for next to nothing, I feel a pange of angst about my own mortal coil. Will my books end up in a book sale when I die? I have always had this notion that my kids will cherish my books just as much as I do. That's not really fair to them. I'm sure they'll develop their own tastes in books. Who's to say that it will overlap with mine. Maybe I just need to develop a network of fellow book lovers as I mature. I would rather slowly give my books away as I get older rather than leave it to my kids to dump them on a library for cheap disposal.