As we cross the country on the tour bus, the snow falls down and we pass by main streets of towns with holiday lights in trees.
We trudge through snow banks to explore some towns we’ve never been to before – and some towns that we have been to.
We seek out the local coffeehouses to get a taste for the town.
We browse the bulletin boards to see what shows are coming up, what craft festivals and poetry readings are happening, what fairs or book clubs are scheduled, they tell us a lot about the places we go to.

Last night, I found myself clutching hot chocolate, sitting on the floor of a book store inbetween the tall shelves.  I got lost in a book, and time slipped away until the doors were closing and the employees were shutting down the lights and the music.

It made me think about how much I love book stores.  I love being among the racks filled with stories and worlds.  I thought about how my home town had so many little book stores – places that I spent most of my childhood and teen years in it.  On the snowy walk back to the tour bus, I thought of a question to ask everyone – and I also wanted to share it with you.

Imagine this:  You can never leave your hometown, you can’t even go to the next town over.  You have to make a living, but you will never be able to leave that 20 mile radius of town.  You can open up a new business, you can be a radio person where your voice travels beyond the town, but you have to physically stay within town lines – what would you do?

There were interesting answers –
Emilie would open a pastry shop and make fine baked goods,
Josh -our sound guy would be an English teacher at the town school,
Texas -our stage manager would be the town psychiatrist,
Melissa would own a health food restaurant with locally sourced foods
and I would open a magic little book store, filled with potions, candles and jewelry I make and tons of cool books.

If you had to stay in your town for the rest of your life and never leave, not even to go one town over…. what would your dream job be in that place?