Social Media, old school...

Social Media, old school...

This past couple of months life has been a race with not only a busy work schedule but even busier weekends. One of my oldest friends, Dave Hoskin, called me last week. His voicemail was funny, "I know your really busy and you probably can't go, and you're probably working, but I'm headed up to the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair this Saturday and thought you'd like to go."  I laughed thinking how typical that message was.

Dave and I have been friends for about 40 years. We met when I just started College. We were both in music. Dave is an excellent drummer and percussionist and we've played in bands together, musical stage shows, jazz band, parades, gig'd around a lot and even played in Concert Bands at the park in the summertime, years ago. Dave works for the Auburn School District and is very active playing around the area in different venues. He also teaches drum lessons.



One of the passions we've shared for years is literature, both fiction and non-fiction. We can easily spend hours talking about the books we've read and our favorite authors. We haven't been able to do that for quite some time. We trade voicemail and email for months, talk on the phone ocassionally and as it turns out, get together but a few times a year. I took him up on his offer to spend the day at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair.



We met at my office in the morning and headed up to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. What a great day! Hanging out with an old friend and sharing our passion for books all day. Kind of like meeting people online before you see them in the physical world, entering the Book Fair was like slipping into a different reality. Book collectors from all over were assembled in one place. It was kind of like going to RE BARCamp for Antiquarian Book Lovers. They were all in their element and enthusiastically savoring the whole experience.

 

One of the dealers came all the way from London, England and there were participants from New York, Massachusetts, Maine, San Diego, and several from all over Washington and Oregon. An amazing collection of books, lots of first editions and many were personally autographed by authors like Hemingway, Henry Miller, Tom Robbins, Jack London, Joseph Heller, Saul Bellow, etc. Of course the one's I'd love to own were like $5,000 to $15,000 each... (hmmm, so tempting.)



The day went by so fast and before we knew it was closing time. What a wonderful day time traveling with a friend. A great experience and wonderful conversation, so good for the soul. My thoughts were flooded with the memories of reading so many of the books I looked at and thinking about how they shaped me. A cool snapshot of life through a lense looking backwards in time.

Thanks Dave...