The Library

I read, a lot.  I'm in one of those time periods where I go through a book a day.  At work, I have at least two idle hours per eight hour shift, and reading is benignly accepted.  Generally, I haunt the half-price book stores in town - and then someone reminded me about the existence of libraries.  Strange I would have forgotten this quaint habit of checking books out for free - my mother was a librarian.

I couldn't find my trusty library card, so I went to the closest branch and signed up all over again.  Oh, the fine....one of the early benefits that came from having a librarian in the family is that there were truly no due dates.  My mother passed away almost four years ago, yet I still have books from the Babylon Junior High Library in my home.  They are a sweet memory of more innocent times.  I loved going to work with my mother, long before one was encouraged to bring one's son or daughter to work.  I was the Librarian's kid, and the Librarian was very popular with the school kids.  To this day, when I need quiet comfort, I can always find it in a library or large bookstore.  As the world seeks online and digitized ways to read, I seek the tangible pages of a book, crisp print, a smell all their own.

So.....as an adult, I found out books actually did have a due date - and I owed the library $14.75 in fines accrued several years ago.  I happily ponied up the cash, got a new card, and promptly found five must-read books.  Oh, there is one digitized task I'll enjoy - I can renew online!