Library Love
What we did over fall break:
Hay bale trail--Business or private homes decorate a hay bale in their yards, and you drive around and see them
Visited my grandmothers
Went to Nashville for our favorite used bookstore and Trader Joe’s
Went to Boo at the Zoo--combining our favorite zoo with candy acquisition is always a win
Wandered a scarecrow trail
Walked through a local campground
Went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze
Shopped for fall clothes
Visited the library
That last one helped make everything else we did amazing. My library holds came in all at once, and I read so many books over the break, every one of them checked out from local libraries. During the school year, I don’t always have time to look through the shelves; I tend to make lists and reserve online. But with nothing pressing, the kids and I spent a happy afternoon wandering the shelves. My daughter found a new series and curled up in a chair with it while my son and I searched for DVDs of old horror movies--Godzilla, King Kong. When we came back, she had moved on to a Harry Potter cookbook, and each kid had a pile of things to check out. We had to come back the next day because my daughter had finished one of her books and needed the next two in the series.
I took libraries for granted as a child, but no longer. October is a big publishing month, and there were a million brand new things I desperately wanted to read. The library had them all, and when we checked out, the kind man behind the desk handed my kids bags of an October craft to make while I chatted with his colleague, a former classmate of mine. When I poked through the kids’ biography section, trying to help my son find a book about a musician, I found the very same biography of Pocohontas I checked out as a child, and many others in the series, all obviously over thirty years old, right there beside the crisp new books. Those books helped me fall in love with the library so long ago, and it felt like layers of enchantment to find them again.
When my daughter listed going back to the library as one of the things she really needs to do again this week, I was absolutely delighted. Libraries do quiet, often unnoticed work, but they are essential and beloved, and I will always be grateful for them.
