A good question asked, that what makes my day. Being in the book business for almost 28 years, rarely have I wandered away from my 18 square meter of store space. There's some bit of truth to the saying that once you have stayed in a place for so long, it becomes you. I've lost touch with all my friends and been detached from my relatives that the only comfortable place I could be is within the counter, attending to customers who too are hooked on books. A good question then is my chance to open some pages in my life, and impart some of the jewels I found while flipping through different worlds, and talking to some great minds behind the books that I have read. I never dreamed of this kind of life for there is not much money to be made selling used books, but it has allowed me live in my dreams, feel the things that I imagine and see more clearly the things that most people take for granted. To learn, to explore, and to unlearn some.
Its the kind of people I meet when they enter my store that brings out the colors of my day. It makes my day to see the smile in their faces once they found the book they wanted to read. It makes my day knowing that once you have given them a glimpse of which door to open they will soon come back and be a customer for life. It makes my day to meet again some old customers who found their way back and recall the times we shared some thoughts years before they became professionals. It makes my day to know that some have made use of the bits of wisdom I've shared with them, and made some headway in their life and career. And most of all, it makes my day when they come back to ask more questions - for they add fire to my desire to go on despite the slide in our book business.
I have failed to give my kids the kind of life some of their affluent friends enjoy, but I know for sure that I have prepared them for the future. They will know how to handle anything hurled at them when they go on with their everyday lives. Someday I know I will leave them but I'm sure they will find some time to read the things I wrote - things I was not able to relate to them. They will remember me when they read some of the books I have read, and watch the playlist I have made for them. I'm sure that at least one of them, if not all of them, will see through my dreams not because of the profit it makes but because of the way it will shape their life and how it touches other lives. It makes my day to know that even when I'm gone I will be able to guide them in some way. I know the feeling, for until now I have not forgotten the lessons I learned from my grandparents, some tricks I picked from my father, and the kind of sacrifices my mother did.
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