My favorite place

It's funny how certain places in my life have stuck with me, completely unchanged and preserved in my memory. The town where I grew up has changed so much that I can only vaguely remember how the old city hall looked, the old high school, or what existed on the land where Walgreen’s, Target, Applebee’s now sit. There is one place however, that no matter how many years go by, or how different it has become since the remodel, I remember every single detail: the glass block windows, the brown textured bricks, the smell of popcorn on movie Saturdays. My favorite place as a child-the library.

As you walked in the library, the circulation desk was on the left and the magazine room was on the right. Keep walking and there were the multiple microfiche machines(something I wonder if Lily will ever even see in her life), paperbacks on spinning racks on the left, and the teenage section on the right. Straight back was the "older kids" room. You had to be in middle school to go back to that section. I will never forget the first time I got to go back there. So many years I had wanted to sneak in and see what mysteries they were keeping beyond that sign that prevented anyone under the age of thirteen from entering. Finally old enough, I walked back with head held high; book bag slung over my shoulder and found a small desk with wooden partitions to provide maximum concentration.

Before I gained access to the big kid room, I spent my time in the Children's Room, many of those hours with my best friend Liz. It was a big open space with a mural on the wall showing characters from favorite books, and a glass display case where once upon a time I shared my beloved cat collection with the world. It was a room where you could sprawl out on the floor with a favorite book (I always seemed to choose The Fourteen Bears of Summer and Winter). I went to story hour (with Liz). I went to costume parties (Liz dressed in a green and yellow clown suit, me in a leopard suit). I went to feed my insatiable appetite for books.

Why this trip down memory lane? On Monday Lily went to her very first story hour in the updated and brightly painted Children's Room. So yes she is a bit young to understand what is going on, but I want some her first memories in life to include hours spent in the library, listening to stories, singing songs and perhaps meeting a best friend to share it all with.