Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart

Today is my anniversary.  It's been one year since I purchased my Kindle.  I can't believe it's been a year already!

I wanted a Kindle because I thought they were cool.  I've never been a big gadget person, but I've always been a reader, and after listening to Sarah over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books go on and on about ereaders, I was ready to take the plunge.

But what really made the decision for me was J.R Ward's chracktastickh Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  I read the first two books while lying on the couch, too miserably sick to move.  I finished those books and wanted DESPERATELY to move on to the third book, Z's story.  But I couldn't.  I didn't have it on my shelf, and I didn't have the physical strength to get up off the couch, go to the bookstore, and buy a copy.  I lived by myself at the time (and still will for the next 26 days), so there was no one to send out to the store on an emergency book run.  Friends were occasionally helping out by picking up groceries and such for me, and I have a few reader friends who totally would have understood the concept of book as urgent necessity.  But I was struggling to accept the grocery thing at that point.  I couldn't call up a friend and ask them to go to the bookstore for me.  And ordering online would have taken DAYS.  At that moment I knew.  Someday I was going to have an ereader.

It took another 7 or 8 months for the dream to become reality.  I did a TON of research, trying to make sure I picked exactly the right one.  I made a pros and cons list between Sony and Kindle.  They came up exactly even.  (No decision this important is ever easy.)  Finally, I went with the Kindle, because that's the one I really, really wanted.  I've never regretted my decision.

I was so excited about buying my Kindle that I even sprang for next day shipping- something I never do.  I stalked the UPS website all the next day, tracking my package over and over, afraid that it would be delivered to the apartment office and I wouldn't find out until after they'd locked up for the night.  The UPS guy finally delivered it around 7 that evening, dumping it outside my door, knocking loudly, and then taking off.  But I didn't care, my baby was here! 

As much as I love the instant access to more or less any book I want, there's an even bigger benefit that I never would have realized if I hadn't started using an ereader.  Holding a book puts stress on the hands and arms.  The Kindle is lighter than a hardback and doesn't have to be held open like a paperback.  It puts less stress on the body.  That might not seem like such a big deal, but to those of us with joint issues, it's a lot.  I was amazed at how much less pain I had when I made the switch.  Ereaders have the potential to give books back to readers with arthritis, pain issues, or other conditions that affect manual dexterity.  You have no idea how huge that is.  Health problems can take so much away from you.  To not even be able to do something as simple as hold a book can be devastating.  Getting that back is worth more than you can imagine.

I celebrated today by reading on the Kindle in a doctor's office, hooked up to an IV.  (No emergency- this is routine treatment for me.)  I thought about using some of the Amazon gift card credit I have saved up to buy a new book wirelessly from the office, just because I could.  But in the end I decided to read one of the 259 books I was carrying around in my purse, all on one little device.  Happy Anniversary to me.