There is something about finding a childhood treasure once again to tickle your happy bone.

Last weekend, I went to a couple resale shops looking for sheet music for a project, and coming up empty, I knew I needed to change my tactics. I went just a level better and went to a nearby antique market. You know, the kind of place that might have much of the same stuff, but they charge more for them because now they are antiques and not dumped off as the local thrift store.

Antiquing requires a constant roving eye. Books and knickknacks are cleverly displayed in bookcases, crates and baskets. Jewelry hanging from every glass surface, flags, banners paintings and prints cover every wall space and if you don’t leave breadcrumbs you may not find the exit for weeks.

While I was on the task of “antiquing”, my eye caught a group of familiar red books. My heart raced and excitement overtook my caution around breakable objects. (That’s never a good sign for me.) Once my mind and body are locked in, my feet took over. A dozen! Even more of them with their dust jackets! I am now in book nerdy heaven. Soon I was fingering the spines, reading aloud the titles:

“The Happy Hollisters and the Indian Treasure”…yes I have that one,

“The Happy Hollisters and Skyscraper City” … yes, I own this one as well.

And so it went.

My mind grew foggy of my collection at home. Didn’t I write down my titles once and keep them in my purse for just an occasion? That was about twenty purses ago.

I scrolled through my phone to see if I updated the list from handwritten to digital. No, I didn’t. But I used my phone to take a picture of the titles and moved on. A few turns deeper into the maze of “antiques” I caught another grouping of books. There were only five on this shelf, but one stood out – “The Happy Hollisters and the Whistle Pig Mystery”.

But I had to be certain. To do that, I had to make sure I didn’t already have it in my possession. So, I made a mental note of which corner of the labyrinth I discovered this little gem, snapped a pic of the titles and went to the checkout a purchase for my dad – the sheet music forgotten.

Once I returned home, I ran downstairs to the basement and snapped pictures of my Happy Hollisters Books. I created a list of the titles I own on my phone and confirmed I did in fact need “The Whistle Pig Mystery”. I owned 28 of 33 of these books.

At one time, I looked up these books on e-Bay, but before I pushed the purchase button, I thought about how it felt to find a title I didn’t won in a used bookstore or resale shop. It was like my birthday and Christmas wrapped up in one. Clicking a button for instant gratification couldn’t give me that. Today, that elation I felt at the find told me I made the right decision back then.

I am now the proud owner of that book. All the way home from the store, I reflected on how I felt as a preteen when two of these books would arrive in the mail for us every month. I don’t think my brothers read them, but my friends and I did. We would recreate the escapades of the Hollister brood in the expanse of our back yards until the next delivery.

This series helped steer me toward Nancy Drew and throw the rest of the reading world at me feet. Sharing books with friends, talking about books with strangers, falling into the skin of the characters whose story I was reading – it’s even what inspired me to write.

When I hold these books, I am transported back in time. That ten or eleven-year old hadn’t fallen in ‘crush’ with Davy Jones or Donny Osmond yet. I was lying in bed with a flashlight under the blanket trying to get the through one more chapter (okay, now one more).

You’ll have to excuse me – I’m headed off to bed to start reading “The Whistle Pig Mystery”. I hope to find the answer to the first mystery – just what is a whistle pig?

Twenty nine down, four more to go…