Another Borders haul

I went to Borders again this weekend. I just couldn't stay away. Borders has been a part of my life since it opened, and I vowed to be with my friend until the end. I came home with a bag full of books and, to someone not-in-the-know, it would appear it was just the usual haul from my weekly trip. Only it was anything but usual. I paid pennies for the tombs and I felt guilty. They were worth so much more. The sales are up to 90 percent now. Anyway, I wanted to share this story I saw this morning.

A visit to Borders

A visit to Borders

I wasn’t ready for it, didn’t expect the wave of grief that washed over me when I walked through the doors of our local Borders. My lips quivered and I swallowed hard, like I was forcing a softball down my tight, dry throat.

Truth is I’m losing a friend – a really good friend – and it completely sucks.

This is the place my teenage sons found refuge on a weekend night and I knew they would be safe nestled in a corner reading a book or paging through a magazine while sipping hot chocolate in the cafe. This is the place where I’d lug my laptop (hoping to find a table by an outlet) to write the day away. A place that’s been my home away from home for so long that I know every nook and cranny.

Everything in the store was for sale – even the shelves. Items were priced at 50 percent off and some were even 70 percent off. I grabbed three neat bags (which I planned to buy and give as gifts) and filled them with numerous items. There was the Hooked on Phonics Discover Reading: Toddler Edition, the Wimpy Kid Scrabble Game, five different desk calendars, eight books and a bunch of other stuff. I figured that at these prices I could do a lot of Christmas shopping, and I did. In fact, I had to ask to leave the three bags that I had filled at the counter so I could continue shopping. They were too heavy to carry.

When I finally checked out, I was happy for all the neat Christmas presents I had bought and the money I had saved, but I was sad for the reason why.


I have so many wonderful memories of Borders. There was the time my sons and I waited with hundreds of other people in the crowded store for the midnight release of the last Harry Potter book. The times I’d meet a fellow writer for coffee and we’d gab the night away outlining our stories, helping each other with plot points and dreaming of the day our books would grace the store shelves.


As I left the store I sniffed and my son asked if I was all right. “Yeah,” I told him. “I just wasn’t prepared for how I would feel. I wish I could rewrite the ending.”


Do you have any Borders memories you’d like to share. I’d love to hear them.