Already Read Used Books - Read More of Them

Dan and I are truckin' on down to Nags Head again on Saturday for a much needed week of sun-soaking, sand sitting, gull feeding, crab watching and hoping to catch the occasional daybreak dolphin dancing in the surf.

And what do we do when we're not watching the sun rise over the Atlantic? Why, we read, of course. (HA!! Fooled ya, didn't I?)

Today we went on a trek to find a decent used bookstore since I read at the speed of lightening and it pains me to spend upwards of $10.00 or so for a paperback book that I'll blow through in a matter of a coupla hours.

And, much to my delight!!! It was a EUREKA moment. We found, courtesy of our beloved IPhone - a neat little nook called Already Read Used Books right here in Alexandria, just West of Old Town on Duke Street.

Very neat owners - friendly, helpful, down-to-earth and knowledgeable. Big bonus in Gwenievere - a fairly vocal, very pettable purple-nailed tailless biblio-cat whose sole purpose in life is to ease you through the check-out process.

If you're in the area, check it out. You won't be disappointed. They've got a large selection of just about everything you could possibly be interested in reading and the prices are modest. We got a big recycled bag full of books, enough for two speed-reading-type people spending a week at the beach, for less than $60.00.

Go!! Visit!! Buy!! That's an order.

Really.

K. Thx. Boi.

The Amazing Courage of Roy Benavidez

Roy Benavidez

If you don't get a chance to read anything else this Memorial Day weekend - read about Roy - a first generation orphaned immigrant who dropped out of school in the 7th grade to become a migrant farmworker.

God Bless Military Personnel, keep them safe, and grant them the courage that very few of us will ever have.

Things I Have Been

Daughter, Granddaughter, niece, cry-baby child, student, sister, Catholic, teenage runaway, grocery store clerk, babysitter, page at The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, bill collector, advertising agency secretary, homeless, disowned, unwed mother, welfare recipient, scared, frightened, alone, hospital laboratory clerk, wife of a heroin addict, battered woman, atheist, divorcee, aunt, waitress, cocktail waitress, bartender, bar manager, rape victim advocate, suicide hotline worker, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, used car salesperson, wife of an alcoholic, step-mother, bitch, mother of two, mother of three, home health hospice worker, agnostic, housecleaner, chronically ill, divorcee, medic, firefigher, ambulance driver, content, CPR instructor, EMS instructor, dead tired, homeowner, mother-in-law, published poet, published freelance writer, mourner, Washingtonian, grandmother of 1, medical secretary, wife of a good man, deist, great-aunt, POA and parental caregiver, grandmother of two, unemployed housewife, happy.

[edited to add] Mary wrote and told me I had forgottn to add "good friend." So - consider it added.

That's about it - but it's enough and I wouldn't change a thing of it. Accomplishments are sometimes made simply by living through it and the greatest accomplishment is looking back and smiling and knowing that you got where you got by getting there.