When we moved to the new town, we left behind a very nice, reasonably new library. I have many fond memories of this library. I would take the Princess there in her stroller, pushing it around while I perused the newest CDs or comic collections. I'd even occasionally get out a book. I loved that place.
Then we came here, and one of the first things I did was locate the local library. When I found it I was...well I'm not going to say disappointed. Let's go with underwhelmed. They had books, and nice sections for music and DVDs and all that. It's just small, and feels a lot older than what I was used to. It's like going to my grandma's house when I was a kid. This is going to sound weird, but the place smells like something built in the 1950s. I can not explain it better than that.
I feel bad that I even noticed it, as it does not detract from the media it houses. Still, leaving the gleaming metal and glass that I was used to left me a little sad. I looked into the libraries in the neighboring city, as back home we had a pretty lenient system for getting a card for neighboring towns, and the attendant looked at me as if I was joking and explained that if I wanted to participate, I would have to buy a library card. I'm not positive, but judging from the way she looked at me, I'm thinking I must have been wearing my mud-stained overalls and ripped white t-shirt, perhaps accompanied by boots thick with cow manure and a wad of chaw dribbling down my chin.
Anyway, it is with great joy that I look forward to next month, when our gleaming new two story library opens here in town. I'm sure it will be all the same books, and they probably won't have moved Maus II or Johnny the Homicidal Maniac out of the youth section yet, but it will be shiny. I'm practically giddy, as I'm a huge fan of dragging the kids to the library still. Now we have a brand new one to wander aimlessly.
Hopefully, the economy will turn around, and in a couple of years we'll be able to afford books for it.
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