7.11.2010

I Love Libraries - Part One



She performed all across Europe... making more money in one month than some people make in a year....

but, beauty, youth, and careers fade....
so, when her British husband left her, and her five children became alienated from her,
a friend suggested she move from England back to her native America.

She did so, living briefly in San Diego, Kaysville, then to the Idaho town where I met her when she moved in our neighborhood.

She lived on a very limited income in government subsidized housing. Her income fluctuated according to the dollar/pound ratio, and she counted her pennies, living very frugally.

She loved to read....but certainly couldn't afford to buy books on her limited income.

TA DA! Enter the local library....

Every two or three weeks, I would pick her up, and we headed to the library, where they had an unlimited supply of her favorite Barbara Cartland romance novels. I would help her find ones she hadn't read before or perhaps ones she wished to read again. She might also venture to read a book by another author, as long as she had several Barbara Cartland to fall back on in case she didn't like the other authors. And, the library had plenty of books to keep her well supplied.

Sometimes we would head to the Deseret Book snack shop to get a piece of her favorite bumbleberry pie.

She'd tell me stories from her growing-up years and I marveled at the remarkable stories she told.

Then, I'd drop her off at the side door of her complex, with a promise to see her in two weeks.

She would be so appreciative, knowing she had a boatlaod of books to read over the next few days....realizing she could never afford to buy all the books she loved to read.

And, so, I'm very grateful for the concept of libraries; providing books for all of us who love to read, but who certainly could never afford to buy all those many many books.

1 comment:

Mrs. Olsen said...

Wow. Are her kids in contact with her?

Libraries ARE great- we don't go enough at our house

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