When I asked JumbleSpouse what I could get him as a Christmas treat. He said, “Something that will remind me of the life we once had and give me hope that we might get a taste of it back again one day.”
Yes. Yes, I thought. I’ve been wishing for the same thing, too.
We were together for almost ten years before JumbleSon arrived. Hopelessly self (and couple) absorbed, we were. People found us rather revolting – so devoted to, interested in, and smitten with one another – even after all those years. We actually liked and admired each another. And, we rarely enjoyed the company of others as much as our own. Unsavory stuff, to be sure.
Starting in 1999 we began reading our way through history. Sundays were spent in bed reading aloud to one another. First with a coffee and muffins, then on to a bottle or two of red wine, chocolate and maybe some food.
Sacred Sundays Library
We used a variety of sources to come up with our initial reading list, which grew exponentially as we dug in (and partially explains why, after starting at something like 5000B.C.E. with a Sumerian myth called The Deluge, we’ve only made it as far as ~350B.C.E.).
Main Reference and Anthology Shelf
Our reading of original texts was supplemented by books on history, of poetry, with art references and any other odd side-bar that struck our fancy – our favorite tool being the beloved and terribly mangled (since laminated and made a family heirloom) HISTOMAP of world history.
Histomap
I’m sure you’re beginning to see the REAL reason we mostly kept to ourselves 
.
