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| nytimes.com |
Those words, spoken to me last week, made my day. That might sound a little odd, a little simple, but it's true.
At work, there is a gentleman who comes in, Mr. F. He's been coming in for years, apparently, but I've only known him for the past three. Now, although Mr. F is rather particular, I have never had any issues with him - my interactions have always been positive ones.
Since the pandemic though, I've really only seen Mr. F a handful of times. He calls semi-regularly, but it's not always me who picks up the call, and my name isn't always given either. He's the kind of person who has been around just enough that you wonder if he's doing okay, but is never gone so long that you officially start worrying about him.
So you might wonder, given that information, why his most recent visit was so impactful to me. Well, here's the thing - many years ago, Mr. F had a traumatic brain injury. He has a really difficult time remembering details, and often needs things documented in clear steps. He always needs his checkout receipt, and you need to go over his account carefully with him every time to make sure all of the items are returned. But, after many months of not seeing each other, the first words out of Mr. F's mouth to me, were "can you help me, Shayna?"
For whatever reason, Mr. F still remembers my name. I wouldn't have been offended in the least had he recognized my face and nothing else - heck, with half of my face covered by a mask, I wouldn't even have been offended had he not recognized me at all. But there he was, not only remembering my name, but feeling comfortable enough with me to instantly know he was safe in asking me for assistance. And the simple joy of it nearly took my breath away.
So thank you, Mr. F - you are exactly why I am here doing this job.
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Tell me about an impactful interaction in your life, whether at work, or in your personal life. Did it help to recharge you? Inspire you?
Back in May, I read a really awesome post by Nessa Luna on her blog October Tune, all about the books she still wanted to read but hadn't gotten to yet. Please check out that fun post here:
50 Books I Still Really Want to Read in My Life – october tune
I was inspired to do something similar here, and although I'm doing it a bit differently than her, I wanted to cover books that have been on my TBR for a long time that I do actually still intend to read (rather than those ones you eventually weed off every few years). If I intend to read the series, I have listed it as the series title, but if I hope to at least read 1 book from the series and go from there, I have just listed the first book for now. So, without further ado, here's my list of 50 books that I'm still excited to get to!
Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely Rainy Day Ramblings, and currently assisted by a team of bloggers, Roberta @ Offbeat YA, Karen @ For What It's Worth, Berls @ Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen @ That's What I'm Talking About, and Linda @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell.
This is one of the ideas that I go back and forth on. Sometimes I think it would be super fun to be able to read along with someone, and other times I think it's too much pressure, and I dislike it. Also, I tend to read a lot of things when they are no longer at the height of their popularity (or classics), and so it can be difficult to have someone else want to reach with me.
That being said, I have done this kind of thing in the past, albeit, unintentionally. When the Harry Potter books came out, and the Hunger Games series did (or in this case, the movies), I read these along with friends and family and got the opportunity to discuss them - and that was tons of fun! I loved those experiences so much, that I later tried to get my boyfriend to try and do buddy reads with me. Unfortunately this didn't end up panning out, and since then I've sort of been intimidated by the pressure to read at a certain pace with someone. I think I'd like to try it at some point, but I don't think it would be something I would do any time soon.
For bookclubs, I truly think I would only be content reading along with friends who are on a remotely similar brainwave as myself. I am all for different opinions, but I can find a lot of debates turn into arguments and are frustrating, which I feel like can be tempered a bit amongst my friends, but maybe not so much with a group of unknowns.
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How do you feel about buddy reads and bookclubs? Do you like to debate topics?
