Last week’s anecdote had me misty eyed and reflecting on the triumphs and tribulations of my 31st year around the sun. This reflection mentioned two very important topics- the salvation the library gifted me to better fill my ‘wasted time’ and my market experience. I think that both of these topics are deserving of their very own Sunday scribble so strap in for the next two weeks as I tackle these two subjects.
The Public Library, something that is available to just about every community, lay forgotten to me for many years. Though I had fond memories of going to the NW Calgary Public Library with my best friend to study French when we took a gap year together between High School & University, my library tours laid dormant for the next decade. I had a brief blip, while living in Tempe, where I believed that going to the library would be a fun-filled adventure. Adventure was an excellent descriptor for the place as it turns out that the library did provide solace, but more of the sleeping variety than the scholarly one. My initial thoughts were that libraries in the States must be different than those that I was used to. Little did I know that a little library in Colorado would soon become one of my favorite places to hang out.
As I previously explained, I came upon the library one cold fall day while, probably in a state of great annoyance, I wandered through the streets of Avon looking for a place to kill the time between dropping Connor off at work and starting a shift of my own. I did not want to wait at a cafe, I did not want to wait at a pub and it was too cold to wait in the park. The horizons looked bleak and dreary. It was then that I saw the vacant horizontal parking spots in front of the Avon Library. It was worth a shot. Immediately after waltzing into the foyer I knew this was the place I would be spending my days. It was a beautiful room with a central fireplace and walls made of windows to bring in the natural Colorado sunlight. Books, upon books lined the walls and the membership was free. All my boxes got filled with pleasant checkmarks. I had finally found a place to not only find the resources I needed to develop my sad set of business skills, but also allowed me to use my wasted time to brainstorm and dream up ways to better my art business. Instead of dreading the daily byproduct “waiting time” of sharing a car, I now couldn’t wait for Connor to get his buns out into the freezing winter air so I could jet over to my fireplace and book shelves.
My beginning book binges consisted of taking out any book that looked the slightest bit interesting. This meant I would have 9 or 10 books out at once. A little bit of an overkill, I know. I most definitely did not read all of the books, realizing that business advice set from the 80s probably would be more of a hindrance than help at this modern age. After all, business advice from 2012 is even considered a bit dated. So as the months continued to roll I began to put more effort into filtering what books I was picking up and checking out (probably to the librarians great relief…)
I was such a frequent flyer at this library that, as all people do, I began to develop a habitual and favorite spot, one that another library patron also found an affinity for. So the battle began for spot domination, and the victor flipped and flopped almost everyday.
It has been such a relief to find a quite, simple place that welcomes you in, allows you to pursue whatever interest you can find and doesn’t require a fee or to nurse a beverage in return. Usually ending in you waiting for the acceptable time clock to fall into the red before buying another item to buy a bit more time at their establishment.
So, if you find yourself in a similar situation to me, I really do highly recommend trying to check out your local library and see if it is as magical as mine.
As always,
Keep it offbeat
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