Saturday, February 19, 2011

Day 1228 - Borders without Borders


Two months ago, our local Barnes & Nobles closed down. Last week, I found out our local Borders is going to close down. And today, I found out our local newspaper vending machine caught on fire. Good day to be illiterate.

As I mentioned to Lisa about Borders closing, Andrew's eyes and ears perked up. He furrowed his toddler brow and whimpered, "Borders closing?" I explained to him that the bookstore was closing down, but there are other Borders we could visit...like in Bakersfield, Goleta, and Folsom.

Admittedly, the Borders that is closing down is the bookstore that we have taken the kids ever since they were born so his reaction is understandable. There were so many weekends when we took them to Borders and had them browse through book hours on end. Of course, Lisa and I would eventually pick them up, but it all depended upon how long the movie we were watching was.

What I thought would be a passing concern has turned into something a little more. Andrew has been seriously affected by this news. For the past four days, there hasn't been a day when he asked me, "Borders closing?" There have even been a few nights when he came into our bedroom, crept up to the edge of our bed, and asked us "Borders closing?"

Andrew's worrying interests me quite a bit because he reminds me a lot of myself when I was a kid. Without aging myself too much, I remember being younger and worrying about the Cold War, nuclear bombs, the Vietnam War, the Spanish Civil War, and Stonehenge. We have always thought Andrew had a tendency to over think things, and I think this situation proves it.

I'm trying to address Andrew's worrying by telling him that there are plenty of other Borders to visit. I went online to see what Borders in our area we could visit. And what I found was that these Borders are closing: Sherman Oaks, Century City, Glendale, Westchester, Pasadena, Valencia, Long Beach, Cerritos, La Habra, Orange, Chino, Montclair, Oxnard, and Yorba Linda.

Suffice it to say, I bought Andrew a Kindle, and he's very happy right now.

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