Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Serendipity

I'm not talking about the movie Serendipity...although, that is BY FAR my favorite movie of all time. But I am talking about a book. A book that I am pretty sure I was meant to be with. Let me give you a little background...

On our way home from Africa, our team was fortunate enough to spend nearly two days in Paris to debrief, and have a lot of fun. More to come on Paris later. But one little tid bit I wanted to share with you, was this magical place we came across while we were downtown Paris. We were all walking around just taking it all in, when I came across this LOVELY "used" bookstore. It is called Shakespeare and Company. It was love at first sight, and as I stepped inside, there was even more love. This place had old chandeliers, old wooden book shelves, wooden floors, a huge bouquet of tulips, and thousands and thousands of used books...some looking very old, but gorgeous. I am pretty sure a few of us would have liked to stay in there for a day straight if we could have. It was just one of those places you just felt like you should be there. But of course the time came and where we had to leave... I wasn't sure when I would see it again.
But then...this weekend, a few of us were going to a movie, and found out that it was sold out. So we had to go to Indigo Bookstore to kill time until the next movie. One of my fave bookstores in Edmonton. Mainly because they have a music section, a million books, AND Starbucks! You can't go wrong with that. Anyways, I was sitting on the floor just looking through random books, in a random section, when I saw it. This book that made me want to pick it up. And after reading the title, I was in shock. "Time Was Soft There", subtitled "A memoir, a Paris sojourn at Shakespeare and Company." THIS IS THE STORE!!!! This is the bookstore, of all the places in Paris, that I went to and fell in love with. Of course we bought the book, and it was 20% off...even better! I have already read a few chapters, and so far so good. I don't know if I will recommend it just yet, because I haven't got that far into it, but it is so crazy to hear him talk about how he came across the store, and he describes everything just as I experienced it. It has been a nice read so far. Serendipity. I can hardly believe it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very, very cool story Hailey. I can't wait to hear how the book goes! It's one of those stories you only ready about... in blogs. :)

Bonnie said...

Sweet story! And it looks like a store I would love. I actually had dreams of owning my own little book store with lots and lots of character after seeing the movie "You've Got Mail" years ago :) Wish I could've been there to soak it in with you!

j e r e m i a h 15:16

"As your words came to me I drank them in, and they filled my heart with joy and happiness because I belong to you. "