I found out I was pregnant with Audrey a week before Matt and I were scheduled to go on a week-long vacation with his family. We were still in shock ourselves to have that +, after nearly a year, and we were definitely not ready to share the news with anyone else quite yet. But, duh, I was about to be on vacation for a week and I needed to spend that time reading every baby book known to mankind. Obviously. To accomplish this on the sly, I marched right out to Barnes & Noble and bought a NOOK Simple Touch. It was fully stocked with books before we left, and I arranged a trip to somewhere with WiFi to purchase a couple more midway through the week. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!
I resisted the e-reader trend for a long time, because I liked books goshdarnit. Not some new-fangled back-lit monstrosity that would kill my eyes. I’m a CPA; my eyes get plenty strained staring at Excel all day, and I certainly didn’t need an e-reader adding to the problem. And, well, books! I love everything about them. The crisp pages, the smell of the ink… It’s perfection. Alas, I needed the secrecy and the Simple Touch was the perfect, non-back-lit solution. I love the immediacy of purchasing new reading material (just download!), and it’s certainly easier to throw in my carry on.
Which is how I lost it, at least temporarily. I had every intention of carrying it with me en route to Charlotte, both to occupy my flight time and to keep with me in temporary housing. But the packing process, as you might remember, was chaotic. We opted to stay in our house instead of a hotel while they packed us, and we just kept rearranging our dwindling pile of belongings from room to room to escape the packing boxes. My Nook, somehow, got lost in the shuffle and was packed. (Cue the ominous music!) I was devastated when I initially realized it, but we were literally on our way to the airport and there was nothing to be done.
I thought for sure it would turn up when I unpacked our bedroom (I keep it in my nightstand), but nope! At that point I was at a loss. I resigned myself it was tucked away in a box in the basement, and Lord knows when we’ll make our way to those. I briefly even worried that one of the movers had stolen it. But I pushed it to the back of my mind as we settled into the house, because it’s not like I have a lot of leisure time for reading anyway.
Last week, we were basically given a little assigned reading at work. All of the upper level managers were given a book, American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce G. Hoffman. My manager gave us a synopsis, and a lunch and learn session was established by the department to discuss, so really…we need to read it. Let’s all take a moment to consider the irony of the executives receiving the book for free, while we’ve been left to our own devices, shall we?
Long story short, our local Barnes & Noble is sold out (ahem, because our whole company was told to read it!), so I mentioned the Nook solution to Matt. Who proceeded to walk upstairs, rummage around in the office, and plop my Nook down in my lap. In less than five minutes. Seriously?! Clearly he’s good at tuning out my complaining voice, because I know I’ve whined about the Nook a dozen times since we bought this house in November.
Oh, well. My Nook is happily charging on the end table and I’ll be able to read my assignment. And as an added bonus, I’ll finally be able to finish The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling). I’ll be well on my way to my six book goal in 2014!
Jay Dee Vee 