more cheers for libraries...

 Once again thanks to my west coast brother who informs me that today is "National Bookmobile Day."  There was a time in my life when the bookmobile driver was my best friend.  When my children were one and three years old and I was still living the life of a stay-at-home mom, I needed mental stimulation to keep my brain from turning to Pablum.  And the bookmobile, that parked a block down the street from our house, came regularly, once every two weeks, to save me.  After my first child was born, my sister-in-law gifted me with a British perambulator which she had received when my niece (then five) was born.  It was a wonderful baby buggy, over sized and perfect for bookmobile trips.  Every other Thursday I would load two kids and all the books, theirs and mine, into the baby buggy with room to spare, and roll it down the street to the bookmobile.  The driver would see us coming and have the door open and the little step in place, so we could enter that magical space, leaving the perambulator parked outside where no one ever bothered it.  As I think about it, I realize that the bookmobile was the perfect size for my children's first library experience.  On the lower shelves there were plenty of children's books for them to explore while I looked over the latest choice of mysteries and romance novels.  I said I needed mental stimulation, not that I read sophisticated non-fiction.  But all good things must come to an end.  We moved from that neighborhood, the children moved up to school and pre-school, I went back to work, and our library visits were limited to weekend visits to the local 'real' library.  But we did keep reading.  Hooray for libraries and bookmobiles.