No e-Reader Can Make You Feel This

It has been a very busy Fall.  My usual trips to our library have fallen far by the wayside. I owed what I imagined to be our kid's college funds in late fees.  I always have late fees; that's a given.  Every time I go to pay them, some of the librarians gasp audibly and announce in their loudest voices the dollar amount I owe.  I am not easily embarrassed.  But this embarrasses me.  They ask (again, loudly) if I have internet access because then I could keep track.  Such as simple task- returning a book (or books in my case).  Yet, my inability to do so on such a regular basis and for such long periods of time clearly indicate a deficiency in my character.  Or at least my organizational skills.  I've never mentioned my organizational skills before.  There is a reason for that.  This particular fine was going to be extraordinary, and so kept putting it off.  Yes, I know, thereby extending the problem.  I guess that says something more about me.

Since our family needs a constant supply of books.  We went to many bookstores throughout September, October, November and even in early December. After considering the money we were spending on the purchase of books, I decided to face my embarrassment and go to the library and own up.  I got so lucky - two librarians, one who knows me.  She seemed genuinely happy to see me.  I knew it would be okay, and started to relax.  After I paid my fine, renewed my card (they let me!), chatted with the lovely librarians, I turned around to explore.  And then it hit me.

The feeling of warmth, contentment and exhilaration overwhelmed me.  It had been months since I went to our library.  I immediately remembered the hours and hours my boys and I spent there when we first moved here and they were little.  Many witching hours were spent in the library.  It was a treat to go.  So many books, so many words, so many pictures, so many times the library calmed the kids (and me) down when the day wasn't over yet, but we were all done anyway.

We would walk in empty-handed and walked out barely able to carry the books we had checked out.  And then when we got home, we read some more.  We read together or separately, but we all read at the same time.  There is a feeling to that.  It is not easily described, but you know it when you feel it.  And it feels good.

I love libraries (and ours in particular is a wonderful one).  I love everything about them.  Every time I walk in I am met by a visual feast and so many choices!  I can ponder a memoir, a biography, knitting books, historical fiction, chick lit, travel guides (which I did constantly during our first year here; I guess I thought escaping to a new place would make me not have to work to make this my home).  Yet, there is no pressure to read any one thing before it disappears (a la Macy's), no pressure to think about budget, no pressure to read a book I checked out and read it before I have to return it.  I can check it out again, when I am ready to read it.   And, of course, the most basic reason of all.  The library is a place I can safely get lost and know when I get back, I'll have grown in some way.

A long time ago.  2004.  But this is not a posed picture.  I sent them outside to run off their energy and this is how I found them when I checked on them.