I’m a huge supporter of what I like to call ‘me time.’ That means something different for every person. I know a lot of people whose ‘me time’ consists of reading or watching their favorite television show or cooking uninterrupted. Sometimes they peacefully engage in a hobby, or take a bubble bath.
My ‘me time’ is those things sometimes, but I also like being by myself out in the world.
After a fairly tough week, my husband proposed an idea. He was going to meet up with some friends at the mall, so he told me to take his car, gave me some money, and sent me to the book store and I could just swing by and pick him up when I was done. I don’t like going to the mall on weekends, and I didn’t want to stay home where the dogs were getting on my nerves, so I agreed.
So I spent over an hour on Saturday sitting in a Barnes & Noble cafe with a book, reading and eating a bagel. This is not the first time I’ve done this, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
There’s something very comforting about the Barnes & Noble cafe. Almost all the tables are occupied by one single person, all of us reading or studying or working solo. Once I saw an older man reading two books at once. One book was in a fancy book stand and the other was open on the table top. I don’t know anything about him, but I strive to be like that guy.
The atmosphere is almost like a library, but a bit less quiet, and not as loud as a regular cafe. Plus, the Barnes & Noble I go to is the one I went to growing up, and it remains mostly unchanged, so I have many memories of scanning the aisles for a new book from my favorite authors.
Following my lunch and reading time, I went scanning the same aisles for something to spend my gifted funds on. And there were many other women, like me, with arms full of books and looking for another. One woman even stopped me and said she was fully aware I didn’t work there, but said we looked like we read similar books and couldn’t find one she was looking for. I pointed her in the right direction, picked up my three books, and headed off to the register.
On the way back to the mall, I swung by a second-hand book store in the area and picked up another book. It was another Disney Twisted Tales book, a series I’ve been slowly collecting, but it was second-hand and therefore half the price it was new.
Around that time my cousin texted me to chat, and I told her what I was doing, and she said it sounded like great ‘Shelby time.’ I sent her a photo of my five books (four purchased, one I had brought to read) and said it was great ‘Shelby time’ indeed.
Take the time to make yourself happy, and enjoy your ‘me time,’ whatever that looks like for you.