We love hanging out in libraries. We love exploring the silent stacks, perusing titles, being immersed in layers of literature all available…For Free! Libraries may be one of the primary proofs that this is an abundant world.
Something else we love to do is travel. One of our bucket list destinations is Normandy to peruse the world-changing events there nearly 80 years ago.
We see ourselves walking the surf-washed beaches, Omaha, and Utah, the still visible anti-landing-devices erected by German troops, concrete bunkers looming atop the hills, and the formidable pillboxes the Nazis hunkered down in on June 6th, 1944 while expecting invading allied troops.
As the imagined events play in my mind it occurs to me that those beaches are a library as well. With the stories of courage, terror, loss, and triumph those blood-bathed beaches are silent stacks of sacred memory, hushed havens for reflection, learning, and lessons that we’d do well to read and absorb.
Another realization presents itself:
We’re all libraries, our lives their own sacred stacks of lessons and learning, failure, and success. We’re all the stories and lore, the barriers, and blockades, and the resistance we’ve overcome in our own time on the beaches of our lives.
Imagine it: You are a library. Savor your own silence. Revel in the shared experience surrounded by countless other narratives. Marvel at the plots, conflicts, tragedies, and triumphs that have defined you. Take comfort knowing your story is there, available to read and learn from. Heed the sign: Quiet! Allow the sacred silence to surround you while perusing the pages of your life to arrive exactly where you are. The abundant trip you just took was the story of who you are…and it was free.
“We’re all libraries, our lives their own sacred stacks of lessons and learning, failure, and success. We’re all the stories and lore, the barriers, and blockades, and the resistance we’ve overcome in our own time on the beaches of our lives.”
Beautiful writing, Byron. You had me at “libraries.”
While at Normandy, you will, of course, visit the American cemetery there. I walked up the escarpment from the beach, following the path many soldiers took on June 6. When I reached the top, I was confronted with a sea of 9000+ white gravestones. One has to walk among the graves and read the names – the real cost of freedom.
Yes, wandering aimlessly amidst the ghosts of authors from days gone by. What a romantic date 🥰
That’s the only kind of date we ever have, love. Every day is a new chapter with us!
Thanks for responding Eva, I love the adding chapters idea. We’re all adding a page a day, so let’s make them readable!
Yes I agree thanks
I love this because we are what we’ve experienced and we just keep adding chapters of our life’s. We all have stories within us.