Travelling with books

Tomorrow I am flying down to Virginia, where twenty inches of snow might be waiting. I'm on the first plane of the morning, so we should make it at least to the metro stop where my mother picks me up...but tomorrow, will I have to walk the last mile in the driving wind through the deep snow?

I wouldn't mind so much, but, as usual, I am travelling with my too-be-read pile. Little do my sweet little boys know that Mama is going to slip hardcover books of her own into their carefully packed backpacks...If Mama had been planning, back when she started her Cybils reading, she would have read all the heaviest books first, and saved the paperbacks for last, knowing that Christmas was just around the corner. But no.

So our path from the subway stop to Grandma's might be marked by a trail of abandoned books, as our strength fails and night comes one...

However, some progress is being made. One mistake I am not ever ever ever going to make again is the brown paper shopping bag mistake. Even the sturdiest of paper bags gives way before the power of the hardcover book. I am very grateful to the green movement for providing us with a multitude of canvas bags. Much better.