Library Browsing

I have a confession. (I’ve made a lot of those on here!) I don’t hate it when it rains at the beach. Everyone seems to get all in a snit about not being able to be at the pool or on the beach, and I say, “Oh, man… What are we going to do today?”  But, in reality, I’m sort of okay about having a break from the sun every now and then. Our favorite rainy day activity is going to library — hands down!

I’ve always been a huge library fan, even when I was a little girl. And it makes me happy that Will is too. Of course, the Beaufort library, where we go the most, is a pretty cool place to be a kid. They have little boats set up for reading, and Will will hop on any boat, any time, anywhere. He picks all the books he thinks he wants, then we have to sit in the boat, read them all and pick which ones he wants to check out. (This can take a couple of hours… Mommy has to keep hydrated :))

The funniest thing is that most of the books he wants to check out we also own. But I think it’s nice for toddlers to get to make some decisions. If he wants to check out the four Winnie the Pooh’s that are sitting in his bookcase, so be it. It makes me happy that he’s cultivating those favorite childhood stories that he’ll remember well into adulthood.

We checked out Make Way For Ducklings yesterday, by far one of my favorites growing up. And I still remember and cherish all of my Eloise books and Madeline. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was always fun. And, of course, no childhood is complete without Cat in the Hat.

Looking back now at how the bookstore and the library were my two favorite spots, it’s really not much of a surprise that I grew up to be a writer. And, while I’ll be interested to see what Will chooses to do when he grows up, I know that, no matter what, reading will be a great foundation. And good entertainment for those gray days!

Wishing you sunny skies this week — and a good book in case of rain!