Aug 21 2008
Booking Through Thursday
What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?
I loved our public library growing up. Not only was it filled with books that I could take home free, but one of the librarians was our friend. When my three sisters and I were little, Teresa, the librarian, went to our church. She was a wonderful single gal, and she loved us as much as we loved her. She was our babysitter of choice whenever our parents went away for the weekend. She didn’t just babysit us, though. She brought over her trunk of antique ball gowns and old prom dresses, and her stack of records: show tunes, classical, ballet music. She brought videos of musicals like Pirates of Penzance and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We dressed up and sang and danced and had an abolute ball.
When we were old enough to appreciate it, she started taking us to the symphony, the ballet, the theater. A trip to Seattle with Teresa meant a stop at Dick’s Drive-In for burgers, then whatever performace we were attending, and then Red Robin for mud pie. You know that feeling of anticipation that hits you when you hear an orchestra tuning up? That feeling is connected to Teresa in my mind.
Because we knew Teresa, we got very special treatment at the library. Not only did she save new books for us - we got to go behind the counter. We got to stamp our own cards. We got to open boxes of new books. And I’m fairly sure we never paid a library fine. Of course, we rarely turned in books late because Teresa had such faith in us.
I still love the library, and so do my kids. The librarians know us all by name, and they joke that the hold shelf gets emptied whenever we come in. Because I love to read, the library would have always been important to me. But because of Teresa, it’s a magical place.
We didn’t have a public library in the small town I grew up in. Just the small school library, which I loved! When I got my apartment after graduating from college, my first stop was getting a library card! I was so proud! I still go there all the time!
Stephanie - we’re frequent visitors at our library, too.
I remember that our librarian was very old and very mean to me. There was this book on the history of teddy bears and I loved that book. The librarian who knew my best friends family would let her check it out but she would never let me because she told me she didn’t know if she could trust me with it. I went to the library every day and looked at that book as long as it was checked in. And for the record- I never lost a book nor did I ever turn in a library book late. I am not sure why she was so mean to me. What is funny is I am 37 now and I can still close my eyes and picture the inside of that library and go directly to that book.
Brandi - What a mean lady! I hate stories like that - about adults who are horrid to children. I’m sorry your first memory of the library is a bad one. I’m glad you still like to read!