Misty Watercolored Memories

I develop strong friendships with books. As a child there were books I'd flip through on a daily basis. I'd long since memorized the text and pictures, but revisiting them was a familiar ritual. I can recite entire passages from The Little House Cookbook and Beauty is No Big Deal (published in 1971, and truly a product of its time).

I've considered e-mailing my local library to see if they'd be willing to sell me a book right off their shelves. The book that most often makes me consider the offer is Looking Pretty and Feeling Fine, a style guide from 1981. I suspect the library keeps it on the shelf because it's been checked out seven times in the past ten years. I've been the one to check it out each of those times. I fear that some day I will visit my local branch, and it will be gone, and I'll never be able to find it on eBay. I fear this because...

It's already happened!! (tragic music)

Last week I went downstairs to the children's room to see if I could find a book I remembered from childhood. It was about sewing, and it was blue, and it was about two inches thick, and it showed you how to make a bikini out of old sheets. I've done everything I can to try to remember the title, and I've found other old familiar friends on the online catalog, but I can't find this book. It is gone. And I loved it.