Books and Choices

Did you like Library Day as a kid in school?  I LOVED it!  There has always been something magical about books to me.  I was just thinking earlier today that I could take or leave the ToysRUs toy catalog at Christmastime, but I could not have been more excited about book orders each month at school.  And as an adult, I want my house to have a room or section of rooms that looks like The Shop Around the Corner in "You've Got Mail."  I dream of living in (or at least visiting) Oxford and spending days in their libraries.  The library just offers so many choices of where you can go and who you can meet in your own private world. 

Through my mom's introduction, I made great friends with Amelia Bedelia, Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Mr. Popper, The Gilbreth Family of Cheaper by the Dozen, Harriet Welsch, Peter Hatcher and his brother, Fudge, and so many others.  On my own at the school library, I became Encyclopedia Brown's biggest fan and desperately tried to solve all his mysteries. The other series I enjoyed was Choose Your Own Adventure.  Did you ever read them? 

They were awesome because as you would move through the story, something would happen and you would have to make a choice that would determine the story.  For example, you might be forging through the jungle when you come upon a raft tied along the bank of a river.  You can choose to loose the raft and float down the river (turn the page to continue reading), or cross the river to inspect the loud noises that seem to be coming from just beyond those trees (turn to page 25 to continue reading).  It was fantastic because there were several possibilities throughout the story and you really could design the adventure as you wished. 

I thought of these books this evening as I have been mulling over the decisions I need to make about the future. The deadlines are coming quickly and the choices are quite varied from each other.  To my mom, I compared my life now with the game Life where you have to pick between two paths, but you're not guaranteed the result you want.  And later I wondered how where I am now compares to Choose Your Own Adventure.  I loved those books so much when I was younger; where is my sense of adventure now?!  But then the pieces of the puzzle fell back into place, and I found myself back at my desk in Mrs. Fulton's classroom during silent reading time, reading the first two paragraphs of each adventure choice before I would fully commit to the decision, needing to know that the adventure choice I made was the best one. The most fun.  Not a mistake.  I was in control. 

Would two paragraphs be enough for me now? Or is it merely the choosing that is bogging me down?  I think I will divert my thoughts with a good book... but which one?