There is HOPE

For all those wondering if there is truly hope for the hopeless… those who’ve made their resolutions and long since broken them… for those that thought, perhaps your just destined for failure…. to those… I offer this little glimmer of hope….

Our last visit to the library—if that trip didn’t redeem us, I don’t know what will!

Those who have been long time readers here at the circus… might recall I have a bit of a bad history with the library…  first, we have the whole circus family wing of the library thanks to the $18 fine visit and the $42 fine visit.  Then we have the patronizing librarian who made me feel insecure in my mothering skills…

I’ll be honest, for awhile I just avoided the library at all costs. 

But, they keep luring in me in with the promise, the hope of free books.  (and really great story times for the younglings).  And now that my oldest is reading a chapter book a night, I had no choice but to buck down and get a system in check for the library.  Because 1.  I don’t want to discourage his love for reading and 2.  I can’t afford to keep paying $40 a pop for a library visit. 

So, my e-mail address is registered with the library and they e-mail 3 days ahead of my due date warning me that it is coming. 

But, here is the miraculous part… now I actually do something about it. 

Last Wed, we had a bunch of library books due.  It was a kinda rough day at the circus, b/c my oldest was home sick from the tutorial and I was scrambling to take care of him, help him with his school work and do my normal Wed chores…  not the ideal day for the library. Here is where old Crystal would say, “oh well… it’s not a good day, I’ll return them another day then.”  but the new Crystal actually hunted down the books and put them in a bag before heading out to pick up my daughter from tutorial.  However, we were running late (as usual) and I didn’t have time to gather them all.  Old Crystal would have just returned what she had and given herself an A for effort for the others.  But, instead, we picked my daughter up from tutorial, drove home, I left the kids in the van while I ran in and gathered ALL the books and we headed to the library.  I had 2 books which I was still reading so I left those on my passenger seat so I could see if I could renew them and if I couldn’t, I’d just drop them in the book drop before pulling out of the parking lot.

LOOK AT ME GO! 

Well…. when it came time to check out, the most amazing thing happened.  We were checking out with our giganto bag of books and everyone, including the youngest, was begging to give their book to the librarian.. I was juggling the baby, the bag of books, the purse/wallet/library card… and in the midst of all this chaos, the librarian said, “Your kids are always so well behaved.” 

REALLY?

Because I had shhhhshed them at least 10 times in the back of the library reminding them to use their “library voices” and thought for sure we were ahem… noticeable to say the least.  I even said, “Really?  Us?”  to which she said, “Oh yes, you should be very proud, I see all kinds here at the library.” 

This totally made my day.  (funny how a few little words of praise can really brighten someone's day… hmmm… I am sure there is a lesson to be learned there)

Turns out those 2 books on my passenger seat where in fact unrenewable as someone had put them on hold and OH WAIT… there is another book we forgot to return which is also unrenewable.    So…. we head back to the car, I drive around to the book drop and have my oldest run the 2 books up to the book drop, then we drive home and I send my oldest up to his room to find that missing library book.  He comes down book in hand and we head back to the book drop to return the book.

THIS IS A TRUE CIRCUS MIRACLE!

I must have been walking on sunshine from that librarian’s praise, b/c the old Crystal would have said, “eh… I tried… I went to the library that’s good enough”  and $5 and 43 cents later I’d have found the book and returned it. 

Because, yes, I really was that pathetic.  

When Scott got home from work, I was literally beaming from ear to ear as I reported what a good job we did at the library.  We got complimented by the librarian  and wait Scott there’s more… NO LATE FEES!!  Strike up the band, order up some balloons, let’s have a party…it can be done folks!