Tangible memories

I recently had a colleague who was doing some planning for the baby he and his wife were about to have. One of the things that they were doing was choosing books to read to their new addition to the family. He made the statement, "I should just buy all the books on my iPad. It would make things much easier.".

I'm not sure why I rejected such a thing so violently (inwardly, I didn't say anything to the guy about it). But there was something entrenched inside of me that reeled at the thought of not having an actual physical copy of the books. I tried to figure out why I would feel this way. I mean, I own a Kindle and love it. So why such a visceral reaction to someone getting baby books on their iPad? Was I just romanticizing the importance of a physical book?

I remember my parents reading to me when I was little. Some of the books were tall, with shiny covers, and smooth pages. Others were squatty and square. Some covers were thick, others were thin. And I loved the books were you could pull on tabs and flip things over to see what was underneath. There was something about that tangibility that made these moments in my life memorable, up to even now.

About two years ago, I got a Christmas present from my father. It was a book called Chester. All I really remember was that Chester was a horse. I don't recall the story at all. What I recall the most was that it was the story that my dad read to me all the time. So much so that I had the entire story memorized. I knew all the words and knew when to turn the page without being told. I almost tricked my dad into thinking that I was able to read (according to my parents). However that farce was blown when I started ad libing in some synonyms. I just don't think you can recreate that with a virtual book. What can you give your child 10,15,20 years later to make them remember those times?

Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps you don't need a physical object to attach your memories too. But I just think there is something to be said about having it. About running to the shelf and picking out your favorite book. Remembering what it felt like in your fingers, turning the pages while you sit next whomever is reading to you. About looking at the physical stack of memories that are going to last forever. I like the idea of that much more than the convenience of storing everything away in an intangible virtual cloud. I also, I like the idea of when I have a child, them sitting next to my father and hearing about Chester from the same book that I had when I was their age. But again, this just might be me romanticizing.