It Amazes Me! (Truly Grateful Series)

   Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to drive to Bowling Green, Ohio to attend a presentation at the library there by a lady named Nancy Pearl.  There may be one or two of my readers who have been around long enough and who read both of my blogs that remember me doing a post before about Nancy Pearl.  She is a librarian and writer.  She wrote the book, Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason, among others.  She also has her own action figure or doll, if you prefer, which brings her finger to her mouth in the classic "Shhhh!" pose when you push a little button.  The action figure is a bit of whimsy that amuses me. 

   The real life Nancy Pearl, in person, was quite amusing too.  She gave a very interesting and entertaining speech which included many anecdotes about how her local library was a major influence on her as a child when growing up, what it was like for her to later become a librarian, and some of the things she has experienced as a writer.  I thoroughly enjoyed her presentation and was glad that I was able to hear her speak.  I took one picture of her, which as you can see,did not turn out well at all, and then realized the battery was down on my camera and was unable to take any more pictures of her.  I caught her with closed eyes and gesturing arms as she was speaking.

   After her speech was over, I met my nephew the artist for an early supper.  He is a student in college there in Bowling Green studying art, and I thought it would be fun to take him out to eat.  I enjoyed getting to see him and had a great time catching up with him.

   From there, I returned to my own town and to my own library to go back to "work."  I added the quotation marks because the work I was doing was watching the movie, To Kill a Mockingbird.  We were showing it as a special free movie night to our patrons.  Here's a very short scene from the movie.

If someone had told me years ago when I first watched and loved that movie that one day it would be part of my job to sit and watch it again, I would not have believed them.  My work day yesterday was literally twelve hours long by the time I got home from the movie, but the extra hours that I worked I can take off on Friday afternoon to make up for them.


   I am still thrilled and amazed at all that I get to do as part of my job on a nearly daily basis.  I do the promotional and public relations work for our main library and for our five branches.  Recently, I have promoted the 50th Anniversary of the publication of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Farmer's Day for the children's department, Fire Prevention Week (local firemen visited and demonstrated to the children how all the different parts of their uniform help to protect them), a Cardio-Dance Class, an interactive science kiosk on display about vision and eye health, craft classes, a history and genealogy presentation on researching Civil War veterans, a historical look at murders in our county (this one is scheduled for around Halloween time), a visit from the Zoomobile, Family Gaming night, and more.  


   There is always something new coming along so that I don't have a chance to be bored, and I'm always busy doing things that I enjoy.  I write press releases for the local newspapers and for the local cable TV channel.  I design fliers and signs and brochures and bookmarks, etc. to use to promote the programs that we do at the library.  I also am in charge of taking pictures of various events at the library which I really enjoy.  I feel lucky every day.


  This summer I had the opportunity to promote a special exhibit sponsored by NASA at one of our branches of incredible photos taken by the Hubble telescope. This song by John Denver is playing in my head while thinking about this post.  As you watch it and listen to the words of the song, I think you will understand why I chose it to post here.

Lord, for wonderful opportunities, for a job I love, for family visits, and for beautiful music, please let me be truly grateful.