Uncle Franz's Library

You never thought about Uncle Franz without thinking about his books, too. 

You walked into his front door, bookcase on the right. You took off your shoes, bookcase on the left. You sat on the couch to watch the Vikings, and the books watched you. 

Civil War, Vietnam, Korean War, Revolutionary War, American History, WWI and II, William James, Fitzgerald, Kafka, Charles Darwin.

Leather bound, thick and meaty. Pages edged in gold. 

When Cindy and Franz moved from California to the farm in Wisconsin, Mom made sure the books got there. Uncle Jim flew out and built the bookshelves.

When it was decided to sell the farm, I heard the books weren’t making the trip back to California. Unless I flew back to get them, Jason said the books were staying on the farm. He and Wendy had a massive project moving Cindy and Franz back to California, and downsizing in life and business means cuts. I asked if I could have the books, so we could keep them in the family. Jason said yes, Franz would be honored. Heather said uncle Franz shed a tear because I wanted them. So I went into logistics mode, started looking at flights and uHauls, when Wendy offered to box and ship them out. 

I have a niece and two nephews who sometimes come over but we don’t watch the Vikings because I forgot to buy a TV. But I do have a lot of books. Marketing, business, copywriting , history, style magazines, classics, textbooks, sci-fi. 

On my 2nd shelf there’s a special stack of 4 leather-bound, gilded-edge books.

The other night, I received 5 boxes from Wisconsin. This video captures what I found. It’s a long video but now you have some context why.