Ode to The Spiral Notebook

Lori's

I have a thing for spiral notebooks. Not your flimsy, cheap, five for a dollar kind. I'm talking multi-subject, pleasantly colored, plastic covered, college ruled, thick, filled-with-quality-paper sort of thing. Couture notebook. I see one, fall in love with it, and purchase it, caressing the cover on the way out of the store. The paper fans past my nose as I inhale paper making chemicals like some kind of pulp junkie. I start to write in it: WIP notes, ideas, jottings, essays. I close it. I give it a little hug and swear I will love it forever, or at least until the paper is gone. I'm committed.

Then the inevitable happens. The notebook of the moment is half full, and I find myself getting the itch to visit my nearest office supply store. I see them, stacked neatly in the aisle--those brand new, fresh spirals. I briefly consider the loyal, still-room-to-write-in-it notebook waiting for me at home. But these new ones look so. . .hopeful. They need me. They need a home.

So I buy one. I walk out the door, smelling its newness and swearing I'll love it forever. . . .