The Library

Last week, I went to a meeting with the school district to get approval for an occupational therapy evaluation for Josh. His special education teacher who does home visits was at the meeting and we had a little time left over afterwards as part of his hour of daily therapy. We decided to go to the library and see how Josh did in that setting. I am a lot more hesitant in public places after an experience we had back in April at a Vermont bookstore. I am working on a blog post about that.

But we have a great local library. It was built fairly recently and is an entirely "green" building. I think it's a good looking library although the columns and pediment at the entrance seem a little overblown. The library has a smaller enclosed section that is the Children's Library. I like how it contains any potential noise my kids might make, helping me feel less stressed. The kids loved it! The room was really comfortable and there were books everywhere within easy-reaching distance. There were little chairs and little tables, even little computer keyboards. There was even this trippy little rocking chair that two people could sit in at once and face each other. I could have sat in that thing all day.

This whole experience reminded me how much I used to love going to the library when I was a kid. I remember my mom taking us pretty often. I still remember how it smelled in there, kind of musty and dusty and papery mixed with the slightly institutional odor of industrial carpet. I remember the slightly chilly, hushed atmosphere and the decor being distinctly brown with lots of dark wood. The children's section on the second floor was less dark. You reached it by climbing what I remember being a pretty big, rather steep staircase. Once you got to the children's section there were books and posters with familiar characters on them, like that monster from "Where the Wild Things Are." It was all so exciting. I could just go in there and pick what I wanted to read and I could borrow it for awhile, as long as I was careful with the books I chose. I was a card-carrying patron of the library and the whole experience made me feel rather solemn when I stopped to think about it. In the children's section, there were lots of big windows overlooking the parking lot. The windows went all the way down to the floor and if you pressed your forehead up against them while looking down it created the sensation of standing on a ledge. I loved finding new books to read every week. My siblings and I would usually get about five books a piece and then go downstairs the the big circulation desk. This was my favorite part. I loved the clunking sound it made when the librarians stuck the books in that thing so they wouldn't set off the alarms on the way out. I couldn't see over the top of the desk. I just knew the librarians stuck the books under the counter and did something magic to them so I could check them out. I wished so much that I had that job!

For the rest of the day today, Josh just kept repeating the word "library," except when he said it, it sounded more like "Li-gary." He has trouble with the "B" sound. I kept repeating the word correctly and he kept trying to say library but ended up saying "li-gary," He has a little ukelele that my parents bought him during their last visit. This is his "guitar." He likes to walk around strumming it and making up songs. Usually I have no idea what he is saying but today I kept catching the word "li-gary" in the middle of his song. I like to think he was singing about his trip the library today and how much fun he had. I'm looking forward to taking him and Jane back again soon. I stopped going to the library a while back. Something about how lots of different people were constantly borrowing the books kind of grossed me out. What if they read the book while using the bathroom or picked their nose while turning the pages. I'd start imagining all kinds of terrible things and wouldn't be able to check a book out. But today was kind of a reset. Being in the children's library and seeing Josh and Jane have so much fun, being within arm's reach of so many different books to read to my kids, seeing the other moms there with their kids, brought back all the happy childhood memories. We're definitely going back, maybe next week.