Connecting with the past

     I went to my local library today. I had a couple books to return and there was a book being held for me, my email said.  While I was there, I decided to see if a book I had on my wish list was in. It was! Into the crook of my arm it went. And here was another I wanted to read! I couldn't let it stay behind.  At the desk I asked for the book being held and - surprise! - she brought two books! One had just come in that day.  Bonus!  I checked them out and as I left the library with a stack of 3 books and a book on cd, I was hit with the same giddy feeling I used to get when leaving the library in the town of my youth, books in hand, new people, places and adventures stretching out before me.
     Why did I have such a unique feeling? I'm an adult and I can, and do, get books from all sorts of places; borrowed from friends, ordered online or bought at a bookstore. And I've got shelves of books at home, just waiting to be read. But none of those aquisitions or sight of books to be read, pleasant as they may be, feels the same as the one I get I when getting books from the library. Why, I wondered.
     Maybe, it's just being at a library. People are nicer there. Quiet and friendly, but reserved and willing to let each other just . . . be. I could roam the stacks for hours, if I wanted, and no one would hover over me, asking if they can help me, or trying to get me to look at books they think I'd like, (and telling me "this would look good on you".)  I feel at home there, and it's a nice feeling.
     Or perhaps it is because getting books from the library connects me with that younger me who relied on the library to provide me with fresh books. It awakens in me the enjoyment I got searching the shelves for the newest book from a favorite author, or finding a new author to read, and going home with my arms laden, knowing I had a month's worth of friends and adventures ahead of me.
     Of course, with my aging eyes, the stack in my arms is not as large - what once took me a day or two to read, now takes me more like a week, but the kid is still in there, and the feeling stays the same.