I'm conflicted

Far be it for me to impede progress.  I like progress, usually progress is good for everybody. 

However, earlier this week I got some news that has me very conflicted.

Our world famous book store is starting a make over, remodeling some parts of it is required.  I don't know what to think.  This news made my tummy churn.  How can you possibly change perfection? 

Would you put jalapeno peppers on a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich?  Would you paint the Statue of Liberty purple?  Would you expect people not to attend the Super Bowl?   I don't think so.

As a result, the thought of remodeling my favorite bookstore has thrown me into a real tizzy.  This building is an icon, for heaven sakes.  It is one of my favorite places to take visitors when they come to town for the first time.  It's quirky, it's messy, it's not exactly the cleanest place in the world, but it is possibly the most interesting, delightful and certainly one of the most unusual places in the whole world.

You have to have a color coded map in order to explore this place.  Seriously, you really do.  It covers a whole city block.  There's a green room, blue room, purple room, orange room, etc.  And if you think you're going to walk out of there in ten minutes.  Well, forget about that.  You could spend a whole day in there and not see everything.

I once took some folks there, and it was decided, since we had other tourist things to do we would meet at check out in 30 minutes.  I well knew that was not going to be enough time, but I (being familiar with the place) knew where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to buy, and was at the check out line in the specified time.  I stood by waiting, waiting, waiting.

Do I go look for these folks?  If I do, will I be able to find them?  What if, while I'm looking for them, they go to check out looking for me and I'm not there, are they going to try to look for me?  We could end up playing hide and seek all afternoon.  So, I decide to stay put and wait some more. 

When they finally showed up, done with their great adventure, the look on their faces gave me great joy.  They looked like kids who had gotten caught doing something naughty, like being found with their hand in a cookie jar.  And, I imagine they might have felt like pirates, discovering 'booty'.  Trust me, whatever excites your reading fancy, this book store will not disappoint, literary 'gold' can be found on every shelf.

Now, I know I could have chastised these folks for being late, but I didn't.  I never do, because, I want visitors to be swallowed up by this experience, and for them to love this place as much as I do, I want them to want to come back here the next time they come to town.

Anyway, by the time my guests showed up, loaded with books, I had already been through check out with books for me and some I had bought some to them as well. I had to chuckle to myself, envisioning them at the airport, going through screening with their carry-on luggage and the added burden of heavy books. 

But, back to this remodeling business...I'm very, very torn at the prospect of changes being made at this magical place.  I guess it will be okay, as long as they don't mess with the magic on the whole.  I still want it to be a place of mystery, I still want dusty shelves, I still want to discover a book I though would have been out of print years before.  I still want to get lost and have to 'find' my way back to the check-out counter.

I still want Book Stores to be Book Stores.  I want to feel the textured covers, and run my fingers along the raised lettering of its title.  I want smell the newness of a book never opened, that still has the jacket intact.  I want to be able to turn the pages, one by one, and feel the paper between my thumb and fingers.  I want a used book to have notes in the margins, and bright yellow highlighted sections.  I want a college student at the check-out counter to tell me he/she approves of my purchases and tells me they enjoy the same authors, or genres I do.

Oh the joy, oh the warmth, oh the wonder...give me a rainy Saturday with nothing to do but browse the aisles of my favorite book store.  Oh, you want the name?  Powell's Books, Northwest Burnside, Portland.  That's Powell's Books.