With a traveling bookstore, there's always change. It might seem after a long enough period of time, certain changes become the norm, and this shifts the sense of change to the sense of normalcy. Like the books I have on the shelves are constantly changing, but after ten years in the business, I assume there are always books on the shelves and they are books you'll want to read. With the traveling aspect of the bookstore, there are always going to be different places. Last week Sacramento (California), and this coming weekend Portland (Oregon). The bookstore has set up in South Dakota and in Mississippi, in Nebraska and in Arkansas, in Baltimore and in Seattle. Different places, yet the traveling is a constant. Sort of.
This bookstore tour has been different because the van broke down. Now that happened before but it was a more singular experience. It broke down in April 2023, was repaired and then continued for a year. Then there was a small fuel leak in April 2024 before I left home which was fixed, and I assumed it would be a repeat of last year's experience where once repaired, I'd go on for another year or so.
Except on this tour, that isn't what happened. The van was repaired in Eureka (Montana), then had to be towed to a mechanic's while in Boise (Idaho), fixed, and then towed again in Dixon (California). I realized this change required a change from me. And that was a good reminder, although a hard one. Because we are surrounded by changes whether the climate or what's happening in government or people in our lives (babies born, daughter going off to college, a neighbor moving, a friend dying). Some changes we welcome, some we try to ignore, and some we actively fight. Some changes are certainly easier than others. Some are truly hard.
I wanted to think changing from one van to another couldn't be that hard. I mean deciding on what kind of van took some effort, but then I found one (thanks to Ron DuPratt Ford in Dixon for having it on their lot, ready to roll). But then realized the lovely shelves in the old van wouldn't fit in the new one which has different dimensions. And what to do with everything in the old van because there I was in Dixon, California and still had bookstore gigs in Port Orford (Oregon), Portland (Oregon) and Libby (Montana) before getting home where the Master Shelf Maker could build new shelves. Lots of changes - some remarkably easy and some painful.
Fortunately during this period, I was reading a collection of essays by Brian Doyle, One Long River of Song. That man's writing is so smooth, so clear, so deep. I marvel at his language and ideas. I cry at the places he takes this reader. I mourn we lost him too soon, and I am thankful his writing was published. Between getting everything moved from one van to another, arranging to have shelves built, logos put on the sides of the van, getting insurance and wondering how to set up in Port Orford, Portland and Libby without a bookstore that customers can enter, but a van that is a lake of boxes, bags and a general mess of books, there were a lot of changes going on. But Brian Doyle's writing was a constant, a golden constant that made those moments when I sat reading, a refreshing moment, a nourishing moment.
I hope you have books in your life like this one, because no doubt you are dealing with your own set of challenging changes. Reading the right book at the right time is therapeutic.
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