Lost in the Library

photo credit www.eileenmosca.com

This is the story of the first time I went to the library.

I have mentioned my best friend who I never see, Berit, before when I told you about my getting my ears pierced adventure. We've been best friends since we were two and I love her like a sister and will never stop loving her.

A long, long, time ago, okay fifteen years ago, Berit and I were roommates. Berit worked at the Vancouver Public Library and I was a landscaper. One day, Berit freaked out when she found out that I had never stepped foot inside a public library. “I cannot believe that you are my best friend and I have worked for the library all this time and we have this BEAUTIFUL BRAND NEW library and you have never been in it!”

I love books, I love to read. I used to practically LIVE in my school library – I was even in an advanced spelling class (I’ll explain later) that was in the library at school. I used to go to the library in the summer. Unfortunately, once I discovered boys, the library got abandoned along with my good grades.

Anyway, the landscaping job didn’t work out and I was between jobs for a short while, so Berit and I set a lunch date and she would show me around the library. It’s a beautiful building, it looks like the Colosseum, and it’s set in this little dip in the land, so you don’t see it until you’re right on it – and it’s magnificent! I knew this, but I had never experienced it first hand. After our lunch and my tour, Berit went back to work and I went exploring in the library. I got lost in the Science Fiction section reading H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man and lost track of time. They had to kick me out of the library that I had never set foot inside of until that day because they were closing. I got home well after dark. When I walked into our apartment, Berit practically pounced on me, asking, “Where WERE you?!” My mum had called, and my sister, all looking for me and Berit had no clue where I was and it wasn’t like me to just disappear. I exclaimed in exasperation, “I was at the LIBRARY!!”

It was so funny for someone who didn’t have a library card and hadn’t stepped inside a library in over five years and never inside a public one to have spent the ENTIRE day there. This was the first step in my love affair with the library.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to the woman who gave me life. You can read more about her here.