"Oh, I'm sure I can find someone" as the thought of the ideal Christmas gift ran through my head. Who wouldn't salivate at the idea of giving or receiving such a collection as a gift. Expecially since I knew so many TJEder's. But as the opportunity to advertise came - I kept a tight lip. I knew I didn't have the money, but I wanted them for myself.
When sharing my desire with my husband - of course he told me to go ahead and get them because it was an investment for our family and an heirloom for our children. How grateful I am that my husband can see the bigger picture.
Even though I told the buyer that I wanted them, I didn't actually come up with the money for another three months, increasing my anticipation with every little payment and paycheck depletion.
Finally, I took the plunge and finished payments so that I could pick the books up. As I brought the two heavy boxes into the house in the orignal boxes and unwrapped each gorgeous book from the original stamped paper wrappng, I began to feel a foreboding weight that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. What was I thinking when I felt I would be able to study these books in my spare time. I recently gave birth to my seventh child only four weeks before, and was struggling to be consistent with parentng and structured time in our home education. Family reading has been hit and miss for some time now (with much more miss than hit), and I hadn't successfully finished above 5 books myself in the last year and even less attendance to colloquia. There was no way I'd be able to make it through such difficult reads as Gibbon, the Federalist papers, Virgil, and Euclid without a mentor and while raising a family. The regret was almost palatable and I felt sure that by the time I actually got around to studying intently, my children would be gone and the books would be too commonplace by then.
But then I put them all in the bookshelf and stood back in awe at the appearance alone.
What a beautiful set of books. I've never owned pretty book sets before and there is something just breathtaking about them. I still don't know if I will be able to find a mentor or even be able to find time to study them for awhile, but for now I'm just giddy to look at the collection and anticipate all the truth I will discover within those pages. And fortunately, there are a few literature selections that should be easy enough to begin perusing through the pages while I am in this stage of my life.
