DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I read a lot, and I re-read a lot. I keep books pretty much forever, and I refer back to them often, e.g. six to ten months after the first or second read when I finally get around to writing a review.

Probably because they didn’t spent so much time with their noses in a book, the in-laws of a good friend of mine have somewhat recently become wealthy — they sold a company or two and retired to a place that’s usually warm. And another place that’s always warm. And a boat. And to a place in Sausalito, which if not consistently warm at least has numerous other redeeming qualities, as would any coastal town on the tip of the Marin peninsula just across the bay from San Francisco.

I recently visited this house, which sports multiple-million-dollar views of Angel Island and the San Francisco Bay. It’s a beautiful place, filled with tasteful art, gorgeous furniture, and interesting architecture, none of which you’d actually notice until you’ve torn your eyes away from the windows, which look down on lots of other somewhat less wealthy people and a gaggle of tourists who aren’t wealthy at all but like to hang out in the fancy neighborhoods as if some of the apparent local good fortune could be found in the souvenir shops near the water.

Anyway, I was wandering through the house, going through the drawers, etc., when I noticed a couple books on a shelf in the study. That’s when it really hit home, what wealth means. I’d already had the realization that owning three homes means shopping for three beds, three kitchen tables, six to nine stereos, 1.5 acres of tile, and of course three drum kits. I’d realized it and filed it away without analysis, because if you buy multiple homes of course you’d have to furnish them all. That goes without saying.

The sight of the book hit me harder, though, because I imagined myself in one of my hypothetical other properties, thinking or writing about something and needing to look up a passage or citation in my library, and realizing, Damn, I left that book in my other house.