If you’re a facebook friend you know that I attended the Commerce Library Garden Dedication last week. It was a beautiful day and a sizeable crowd showed up to hear the guest speakers and see the garden benches held up by facsimiles of books written or illustrated by Georgia authors. One of our books, WRITTEN IN TIME, is helping to hold one of those benches. WRITEN IN TIME was penned by us while we lived in Commerce and the fictional main characters were very loosely based on our family. The story starts out with our characters living in a house in Commerce that we did indeed live in for many years. Our daughter Samantha helped a lot by giving us her take on what being a fifteen year old teenager was like in the present and what would happen if you were suddenly thrown back in time to a small town in Nevada along with your mom and dad and your seventeen year old know it all brother.
After the ceremony we adjourned inside for book signings and refreshments. No longer living in Commerce it was pleasant to catch up with friends I’ve not seen in a while and to meet people new to me. I had a great time wondering around the library, thinking about how much it has grown since we moved there in the late ‘70s.
Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s, one of my fondest memories is walking with my father for what seemed like miles – maybe it was, maybe not - to the neighborhood park where he would deposit me at the library while he went over to the ball field to watch whatever game was in progress. Like most kids at that time, my family didn’t have much money for extras like books but to me I had a gazillion of them just waiting to be plucked off the shelves and opened and read. I’d stay there for hours reading and exploring and then I’d check out a pile of books to bring home to keep me occupied for a week or so. Carrying a stack of books way too big for me to handle, I’d stagger down to the ball field and meet up with my father. I knew he would carry most of them home for me. Dads are good that way.
Libraries have become so much more than a book depository; they are our modern community centers. They still have books that you can carry home with you but if you so wish, you can check out ebooks to view on your Kindle without even leaving home. DVDs, CDs, information and entertainment in all shapes and forms are obtainable. Computers are available for your use as well as other types of equipment. Many libraries offer tutoring services as well as classes on everything from languages to knitting and gardening to genealogy. Income tax information and legal advice can be had as well as other topics of interest. Book clubs are popular in libraries as well as creative writing groups. You may go to your local library for instruction in CPR or to view videos of a local’s travels abroad. Maybe you take your young child there for story hour while you soak up the silence in a different part of the building.
Go to your library and walk around; see what’s going on. It doesn’t matter if it’s tucked away in the middle of a strip mall or it’s big and bright with real plants growing everywhere. Find something to read, find something to do and encourage your kids to do the same. There’s always something going on and you don’t want to miss it.
Sharon
PS Did I tell you that the mother of the guy I fell in love with and married was a librarian? Yep!