Day #96: I Think This is the Most I've Missed the Library
Our library is part of a 2 county library system with 23 branches. In early 2019, we decided we were going to visit all of them. Plus the bookmobile.
I actually stole the idea from a friend I used to work with who had 2 little kids and very little money. She worked in a school, so had even less money in the summer but more time. When I asked her what she was going to do with her kids over the summer she said she took all the city parks and turned them into a bingo card. This is where I realized that community owned assets can and should be a game.
When my oldest was a newborn, I made a list of all the state parks that were within a 2 hour drive and we hit as many as possible that first summer. I also just started keeping a running list of local parks and things we hadn't seen. But I had heard stories of people visiting every library in the system and we just decided we were gong to do it. Max was still pretty little (aka easily packable,) and James was only in school three days a week. So we planned some road trips where we grouped 2 or 3 branches together and would hit a couple in a day. We also found our closest bookmobile stop because why not.
To date, we have hit 20 of them plus the bookmobile. We have also crossed the county line in the other direction to visit several in the library system just south of us (not all, they have more but their branches aren't as interesting.) We are 2 fairly good-sized road trips (one might involve a ferry, there are options) from finishing the list. We slowed our pace down some when James went to school full time in the fall.
Today was the kind of day where I totally would have done this in the old days. The kids were out of sorts. The weather wasn't great but wasn't terrible. We all could definitely have used a change of scenery and something new to read.
I've missed the library a lot...it has been closed nearly three months now. We rarely go a week without visiting. I mean, I'm a librarian by profession, this place has special meaning for me but I'm talking about just missing it as a person and as a reader. But today I missed the library as *place.* We wanted to go hang out there. And while library service might be returning, it's going to be a long time before we can really go back to appreciating our places as places.
I guess when we can those three distant branches will still be there.
Today's media consumption: we didn't actually go to the library but I did manage to do a fair bit of reading today. I'm close to finishing Hillbilly Elegy and read some of How to Love a Country. I also finished my rewatch of How I Met Your Mother and am in desperate need of some new bad TV.
Today I'm thankful for being able to get in the car and get away, the Muppets, a working clothes washer, Max singing, snuggles, apple cider, books, and what I'm hoping will be an early night but it's starting to sound like Max has other ideas.
I actually stole the idea from a friend I used to work with who had 2 little kids and very little money. She worked in a school, so had even less money in the summer but more time. When I asked her what she was going to do with her kids over the summer she said she took all the city parks and turned them into a bingo card. This is where I realized that community owned assets can and should be a game.
When my oldest was a newborn, I made a list of all the state parks that were within a 2 hour drive and we hit as many as possible that first summer. I also just started keeping a running list of local parks and things we hadn't seen. But I had heard stories of people visiting every library in the system and we just decided we were gong to do it. Max was still pretty little (aka easily packable,) and James was only in school three days a week. So we planned some road trips where we grouped 2 or 3 branches together and would hit a couple in a day. We also found our closest bookmobile stop because why not.
To date, we have hit 20 of them plus the bookmobile. We have also crossed the county line in the other direction to visit several in the library system just south of us (not all, they have more but their branches aren't as interesting.) We are 2 fairly good-sized road trips (one might involve a ferry, there are options) from finishing the list. We slowed our pace down some when James went to school full time in the fall.
Today was the kind of day where I totally would have done this in the old days. The kids were out of sorts. The weather wasn't great but wasn't terrible. We all could definitely have used a change of scenery and something new to read.
I've missed the library a lot...it has been closed nearly three months now. We rarely go a week without visiting. I mean, I'm a librarian by profession, this place has special meaning for me but I'm talking about just missing it as a person and as a reader. But today I missed the library as *place.* We wanted to go hang out there. And while library service might be returning, it's going to be a long time before we can really go back to appreciating our places as places.
I guess when we can those three distant branches will still be there.
Today's media consumption: we didn't actually go to the library but I did manage to do a fair bit of reading today. I'm close to finishing Hillbilly Elegy and read some of How to Love a Country. I also finished my rewatch of How I Met Your Mother and am in desperate need of some new bad TV.
Today I'm thankful for being able to get in the car and get away, the Muppets, a working clothes washer, Max singing, snuggles, apple cider, books, and what I'm hoping will be an early night but it's starting to sound like Max has other ideas.
Comments
Post a Comment