Selling out to electronics?

I admit it, I love my electronics. From my phone to my laptop to my iPod to my Kindle Fire, I always have one on me. At first, they were just tools. I used them to write, make phone calls and keep in touch with friends. My biggest hold-out was getting an e-reader.

A year ago, there was no way I'd ever buy an e-reader. I love the feel and smell of books. I love the feel of the paper and the smell of old books. Just last weekend, I went to an antique market and just inhaled the smell of all those old books. I used to go to bookstores and spend hours just wandering up and down the aisles. I had my husband build a bookcase to hold all my treasures. I thought there was no way that having my literature on an electronic tablet would ever compare.

Then I started seeing on Facebook how many of my friends just loved their e-readers and I still said, oh no, they're not for me. How could I ever read Shakespeare or Charlotte Bronte on a computer? It was bad enough that all my photography was stored on my laptop with just select pictures being printed. Then my neighbor bought a Kindle and I started looking at his. Then I saw an e-book that was available on print so I downloaded the Kindle app for my laptop. That's what started my conversion.

My husband and I used to love to go hang out at Border's. Then the bomb hit, they were closing! What was I going to do? Barnes and Noble wasn't as comfy and sure there was Half Price Books, but it still wasn't the same. I went to Border's every week as they were getting ready to close and watched as the prices were dropping and I was still buying books. I also started looking at the e-readers and still kept saying no, they weren't for me. Then they dropped to 65% off and I can't pass up a deal and my husband kept saying, oh you know you want one. Yeah, I had to admit that deep down, I kind of did.

So I excited the store that day with a new Sony e-reader in hand. I couldn't put it down and where ever I went I had it with me, but I was still reading real books along with the books on my e-reader. I still wasn't betraying my books. I was okay with that.

Then came Valentine's Day and my sweet husband, knowing how much I loved my Sony, bought me a Kindle Fire. Oh My God, do I love it!! It's never far from my side and I also love that I can get online with it and have any apps that I want. Yes, I've sold out and haven't picked up a real book in over a month. I put a leather cover on it and it feels like a fine book now, at least on the outside. I guess that I just need to go and sniff my antique books every once in a while for the smell of them.

What has become of the first e-reader that I bought just eight months ago? I'm wiping it clean for my kids because I already have one kid who loves books almost as much as me.