Please take a moment to think of those who died today and their survivors.

I hoard books. They are people who do not leave.    Anne Sexton

Yes! So true. My house is full of people and yet I still have room to move. And these people don’t need my attention until I flip open a book and there they are, caught in the pages. My time is selectively interrupted.

Not to say that I mind being interrupted by actual oxygen breathing people. Typically, I don’t. But there is something to be said about having quiet conversations from which I can leave to get a cup of coffee without being rude. All characters in books ask of me is that I follow them faithfully. They do not take me hostage. I can swiftly leave them to feed my cats and then return to them right where I left off.

I’m a book lover who works in a library. The combination can be problematic like a diabetic working in a pastry shop. I can check out 35 books at a time for three weeks. How in the world do I read 35 books in three weeks? The three weeks is long enough for them to gather dust. In these dust bound books are people whom I will never meet. I will leave the book like I would a rental property that is too far away from a gas station. My tank remains empty until the next set of 35 books attract me.

Walking away from an oxygen breathing person is not as easy as closing the cover of a book. There’s goodbyes to be said, hugs to be given, and promises to meet at some future date. I don’t have to plan in advance to read a book. I can reach for a character at midnight or 1 a.m. The character will not have done things without my knowing and she will be in the same red pajamas I left her in. These are people who never leave. As a result, I am never alone. There is comfort in this.

I must say, though, that oxygen breathing people are necessary, are absolutely desirable. I am alive because of those who love me and those I love. And because of a God who I can treat as a non-fictional character; a character who has no physical being in this world but who is always around. God is not a person. God is God, books are books, and oxygen breathing people are oxygen breathing people. I am blessed to know all three. I am blessed to have all three in my life.