I spent a few hours today in my Dad's library cataloging and boxing his books. It is an overwhelming task.....there are literally THOUSANDS of books. It is very time-consuming. It was my Mom's idea to eventually sell the library as a whole instead of selling them individually ending up with random books. After my Mom passed away, my brother and I talked about it. Not only is the task itself overwhelming, but where do you begin to put a price tag on such a thing? I would have NO idea. We discussed my Dad and all the years he spent teaching and preaching. It was something that he LOVED to do, it was truly his passion. He spent many years doing those things as his occupation, but we both know that he would have absolutely done it for free. He just wanted to study, to share his knowledge and to learn more himself.
I have 8 boxes cataloged and boxed up. A mere grain of sand on the beach. This afternoon, after I had worked out there on one more box, I stood up and looked around at the massive amount of books. MASSIVE!!! I teared up...actually I cried. So many books, thousands and thousands of dollars - all of them gathering dust because of a horrible disease called Dementia. What a waste, how sad. A man that spent 50+ years devoted to studying God's Word, Bible History, Greek and Hebrew......things that most people just couldn't grasp. Some of the titles of the books themselves are mind boggling. He has two Masters degrees - one in Biblical Languages and another one in Teaching English as a Second Language. He received his PhD in Greek. He is a brilliant man, but everything is just locked away somewhere in his brain...probably never to be heard again.
Dementia. I hate that word. I hate that disease. It has stolen my Dad.
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