In Which I Become a Librarian

Today would be my father's 72nd birthday. Anyone who knew my father knows he was an avid reader, reading on average a book a day -- for his whole life.

Papa, building his
library collection

Papa's dream was to retire to his hometown of Port St. Joe, FL, where he would build a library to house his thousands of books.

That never happened, but something else really awesome did.

And now, a dream, I, his daughter, has harbored has come true: I am now a librarian!

Yes, of all the professions, I've often thought the one I would have most enjoyed (if I wasn't an author) is being a librarian. So imagine my delight when we arrived in our new town and discovered 1) our (tiny) town has a just-for-the-Town library! And 2) they needed a librarian.

Can you hear the angels singing?

New book donations, ready to be shelved!

So I volunteered myself and have since gotten to work weeding and sorting donations and reorganizing and surveying residents to identify needs and setting up a donation/memorial program and all sorts of other fun stuff.

Not all of it is fun. So many choices must be made -- shelf space is limited, as we only have room to house about a thousand books.

wee book-loving me

But I love books! And libraries are important! And I want ours to not only fulfill my dream, but also my father's.

Joy! So Happy Birthday, Papa, from your loves-books-because-of-you, now-a-librarian daughter.