An extensive time at the Information Desk on a quiet afternoon yielded four conversation with long-time patron friends, and each one expressed pleasure at the interaction. And that's what life is all about. Finding your niche.
I'm sure many people wonder why I don't retire - and one of these days I surely will - but to have been given the gift of a natural fit, occupation-wise, I consider such an enormous gift and I'm not ready to relinquish it.
When a patron comes in and says, "I need a book for this weekend - you always know what I like" - to me it's the Oscar of the library world!
And beyond the matching books and people is the life line of birth, illness, joy, successes, children, marriage, divorce, death. The confidences ebb and flow. It is the bar-tender phenomenon because I don't know these people beyond the desk. And yet I have a stake in their happiness.
In looking back, what could be better than lending someone a book, your ear, your heart?
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