The Pleasures of Owning an Encyclopedia

My mother purchased an entire set of World Book Encyclopedias from my math teacher, Mr. Donofrio, who peddled books as his summer job. I was shocked that she went ahead without consulting my father. It was a bold move in my house – not that my father would have forbidden it, but that my mother, who was terribly anxious, would have made that type of monetary commitment.

Well, it turned out to be the equivalent of buying me a new best friend (HRBL, you were never in danger). I remember the real pleasure in coming up against a word I didn’t understand, usually from a borrowed library book (another childhood pleasure). It never failed – in looking up one explanation, I found other words, ideas, places I didn’t know. I remember running from book to book as if I was on a discount shopping expedition, grabbing them from the shelves.

Then I found “dirty” words, basically anything that had to do with bodies, except bathing. Talk about a new world opening up!!!

Today, I enjoy challenging the internet and asking AI questions like “What did middle class people eat for lunch in Paris in 1906?”, something the encyclopedia could not have told me, so the pleasure continues in very twenty-first century form. BUT, sitting on the gray carpet on a Saturday… of course, if I sat on the floor reading this Saturday, someone would have to come over on Sunday and lift me up… looking back, it feels so wholesome.

Before Thanksgiving, I went to a friend’s house and played Hitster, a song game, with her entire family. I was what you would generously refer to as ‘dead weight’, but it was great fun. Sitting around the table, guessing incorrectly except for songs of the 60s - it also felt wholesome.

I miss wholesome.

Not The Trip We Planned is wholesome, although the reviews didn’t use that word. They said ‘satisfying’, ‘fun’, ‘witty’ but it was wholesome. Buy dozens for Holiday gifts. And review it on Amazon.com. That evil company makes a big difference in sales and reviews are terrifically important.