Date 29: The end of books as we know it.

The date night calendar for this week read, “Borders book date”. As you know, I schedule months ahead of time so this date was on the calendar long before Borders announced all stores were closing. The news hit me hard-similar to when Oprah announced her last season. There was a time when we would go to Southside Borders every couple of weeks and drink lattes, read, and talk to the regulars. Yes, Borders has regulars. We saw the same people week after week. We knew who was studying for the bar, who came to play chess, and who was preparing for a baby. Needless to say, this date was about nostalgic.

It was evident that Borders was going out of business the minute we arrived. The café was shut down, there were crowds of people looking for clearance items, and liquidation signs were scattered everywhere. I wondered if anyone else was as sad as I was. I only saw one regular, an elderly man his face solemn. I wanted badly to wish him well but we never did. Osi suggested we go to Barnes and Nobles instead. I was appalled that he didn’t want to sit and sulk at Borders but he was right that this was not the Borders we had grown to love.

I went to Barnes and Nobles but not without hesitation and sadness. When we arrived to B & N I overheard a woman ask the sales consultant if Barnes and Nobles was going out of business. “Oh no, we are doing fine,” she said. Their whole conversation was like a bitter mock. Let’s hope there never comes a time when bookstores completely vanish. At least let us come to a book café and download books from a plug in the wall or order digital books from a red box machine.

As I sat pondering the future of books, Osi read his comics. I looked thru the Vermont biking tour catalog for next year’s vacation and searched for new ipod music online. Thanks to iTunes our night took a pleasant twist of fate, for $24.60 I was able to buy Dexter season 5. That’s an entire month before you can buy it on amazon. Woohoo!!!! Osi and I were once again joined by a common interest. It was the perfect happy ending to a somewhat crummy night. We managed to watch the entire 5th season by Monday night! Thank you Dexter for saving date night! Osi rated this date a 7.