Book Worm

Early this week, I paid a visit to my local library so that I might borrow some books for school. Once there, something about the crisp air outside, the early darkness, and the perusing down the "science" aisle made me think back to many of my past library adventures ...

In third grade, I remember walking to the library from my elementary school. It was only a couple of blocks away, but it was my first real time getting somewhere by myself. My parents even drew me a map with street names and arrows ...

Also in third grade, I remember huddling around a copy of "Where Did I Come From?" with my friends and learning about the wonders of the male and female anatomy ... And how everything fits together. One of the librarians actually came over and chided us for looking at it. I'll never forget the look on her face when I told her my parents had the same book at home and had allowed me to read it many times over.

Later, maybe in sixth grade, I acquired an obsession with the Titanic and actually went around the library taking every single Titanic-themed book (with pictures) that I could find and piling them on my table to look at. Never getting around to taking them out, I simply followed this routine, over and over, and insisted on creating that same pile (which probably made the librarians crazy). Looking back, I must have felt some sense of accomplishment as the pile shifted from a large one, into two smaller ones: "those books that I did not read yet" to "those that I finished."

Seventh grade began my "Outsiders" obsession, in which I took any S.E. Hinton book that I could find and read it ... Multiple times. This also began the Matt Dillon fangirling that I keep referring to and the hunt for any available VHS that had him in it. Thanks to the library, I got those videos for free! I had a very limited allowance back then.

Much later, in college, I had to venture into the underbelly of the school's library to find sources for my senior thesis. The feeling of being alone between the stacks was both creepy and oddly exciting ... If only the thesis itself had been as fun as the trip for information!

As you can see, I have many fond memories of my time in the library and/or the books that I would read there. My most recent visit to my local library seems to have rekindled all of those fond feelings. I literally found an interesting book, pulled it from the shelf, paged through it for a moment, and then plopped myself down in the middle of the aisle where I promptly lost myself in its pages.

It's been a long time since that has happened ... And after a long day at school, it was a nice experience!