Certain places always remind me of certain people.
Today I was at Costco, and as always I thought of my grandma.
When we were little, she would take me and my brother with her to Costco for what we liked to call lunch. We would run from sample stand to sample stand getting away from the cart, and probably being royally in the way. My grandma would yell at us, constantly telling us to stay by the cart, and to hold on to the side. I still hold on to the side of a shopping cart if I’m not pushing it, Pieter can confirm this.
The only thing that would make me stop running from aisle to aisle was the area with the books. Ever since I can remember I’ve loved books; the way they feel, the way it smells when a hardback book gets a little old, the way a library sounds and smells. I will always associate these things with my grandma, and how she passed on her love of books to me. It bothers me that now her library is no longer expanding, but rather being snuck away in the suitcases and purses of me and my mother. Honestly? I’ve been taking those books for years. I always used to ask before we would leave to go home, ‘Grams, it’s ok if I take these books, right?’ the answer was always yes, but I felt like asking was appropriate.
I can’t remember ever getting too many books from Costco, I preferred the library where I could take 18 books out at a time and they were all free, but today I bought two.
I also bought an area rug when I was only going for toilet paper but that’s neither here nor there.
I know it’s kind of silly, but I always think that it makes her happy when I buy books at Costco, because it’s cheaper. I always thought that she never understood why I would stand in line until midnight or later for the last two Harry Potter books when I could get them cheaper the next morning at Costco.
