When people ask me where I'm from, I always take a deep breath before responding. Here is a chronological listing of the places I have lived: Ohio, Alaska, Florida, Ohio, Germany, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Indiana, California, Germany, Massachusetts, New York.
My dad was in the military so we moved around a lot. (Just for the record, moving is much different than traveling.) I went to eight different schools, not including college. I was always 'The New Girl'. There was always a new town, new school, new church, always new friendships to be formed -- and then inevitably all of that to be left behind...again. After a while I sort of felt like why bother, if you know what I mean. :-(
But libraries were different.
You know how you can log on from anywhere to check your email and it always looks the same, no matter what? Well, long ago before there was such a thing as the World Wide Web (if you can even imagine such a void) that's what going to the library was for me. I could always find my way around and the books I loved were right where they belonged, seemingly just waiting for me to show up to find them again. Like old friends that somehow moved whenever I moved. It was the only place I felt like myself rather than just some new girl.
I spent so much time in libraries that I took for granted that I would go to college (naturally spending most of my time studying in the library) and move forward effortlessly into a contented lifetime of library work. But somehow that's not what actually happened.
People are always saying things like, "Life is a journey, not a destination." Trite as it may sound, I have to acknowledge the truth of it. Twenty-seven years passed between my graduation from high school and my first day of work at the Bedford Free Library. A long and circuitous journey, indeed. But look! Somehow I made it.
It just goes to show that you never can tell what's going to happen next. :-)
I look forward to seeing you 'round the library!
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