"L" is for...

Library....

When I was young, my Mom used to take us to the library in our little home town. It was in an old stone building by the river.  The downstairs area was for under the age of 13.  Once you hit 13, you were allowed to go to the upstairs area!  Before that, they just deemed those books too much for younger kids.  Still amazes me to this day when I think back on it - compared to how things are now.

When I was in my teens, my best friend (who lived next door to me) and I, would walk to this same library.  We would get tons of books and walk home and sit outside and read.  Then when all our books were finished, back we would go for more - on and on - all summer long....

In 7th and 8th grades, I volunteered in the school library.  I actually even learned how to bind books - that was fun to me!  I can still picture that library in my mind.  Recently, they tore this school down - so very sad to see it being destroyed.  I saw a video on Facebook that someone from my home town put on there.  The school was called Milford Main - it had two front entrances. And above the entrances were carved in stone - the word Girls on one side - and Boys on the other side.  Always loved that for some reason. The floors inside were old wood and they creaked... another thing I loved about that school!

After I got laid off from my job at Honeywell, back in 2001, I started volunteering at my regional library.  About a year later, I was hired to be a Page.  I worked 20 hours a week - reshelving the library books.   I was there for 10 years - shelving library books - 4 hours a day - 5 days a week!   There were 30 of us at this branch who did this over various hours during the day and night and weekends.  It was a never ending job.  We circulated over 1.5 million books a year - and all those books had to be reshelved!   I  finally (after those 10 years of shelving) decided to retire from working all together.  I did go back and volunteer again for a couple of years - doing the Pick List - this is where you go out with a list of books people have put on hold - and pull them and process them for pick up.  It is a huge job which requires many volunteers throughout the days...  I enjoyed it!  I do remember one time, a man found out we were called Pages.  He could not get over that - I think he thought it was demeaning.  He asked the manager - when do they get to be books - LOLLL!!  We actually did not like the title either - we would have preferred Library Assistants.... or something along those lines.

To this day - whenever I go into a bookstore, I find myself fixing the books - putting them in order, if they are out of place, etc.  I guess you can take the girl out of the library, but you can't take the library out of the girl!