Tuesday, November 24, 2009

It's all about perspective

"Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!" our books dropped down the shoot into the bin. Why do they make the return bin so noisy in the library?? I feel all eyes turn on us as we nosily drop our pile of books in the return slot. "Oh great two little kids" I can hear people thinking. We quickly make our beeline towards the children's section were we can hide between the shelves and take comfort in the fact that if there is a child screaming there is a chance it will be some other poor mother's kid.

"How about this one?" "How about this one?" I hear as Lucas and Alex quickly accumulate a big pile of books. We then head to a table and sit down to weed out the books I know they will never listen to. We get our pile ready, usually around 20 books and head to the checkout.

"Can we do the self check-out?" Both kids plead. So I give in. Luckily the self checkout at our library is really nice, you only have to put the books one at a time down on this pad, doesn't matter what side is up, no trying to line the barcode perfectly under the little blinking red line.

We get about 13 books scanned and it happens again. "Cannot scan, account has exceeded its limit". All that loud clunking earlier was for naught as they haven't emptied the bin yet and scanned our books back in. We have had this problem before and it can be resolved, it just means a trip to the regular desk where they can override it. So I put the books we have scanned in my bag and carry the others in my hands. And then Alex makes a beeline through the security gates and out the doors! I stand there paralyzed! I have a pile of unscanned books, it will make the security gates beep (you can read about that fear here).

"Lucas, get your sister" I hiss.
He heads over to the security gates and yells "Alex, come back!"
"Go get her, don't yell!"
He stays in the same spot and says very loudly (but not yelling) "Alex we aren't done, come back."

[Editors note: Alex is still inside the building, there are two sets of doors and she is just out the one set getting a drink]

Alex finally looks our way and I plead for her to come back in. Which she does. We then make our way over to the main desk. I place my books on the counter and explain what happened. At this point Lucas is twisting the rope line dividers and Alex is pushing out the "enter here" sign. A librarian comes and puts the sign back and gives Alex a look that quickly has her running to my legs.

We get our books scanned and head out. Lucas is talking nonstop about "why does the building curve here?", Alex is hopping over all of the cracks in the sidewalk a foot behind me. I am muttering under my breath about everything that just happened. And then a car pulls up, the driver rolls down her window.....
"Your children are adorable" she says with a smile and then drives off.

It's all about perspective I guess.
We have a love-affair with books.... the library not as much

12 comments:

  1. I agree with the driver. BUt, that's my privilege, after all I am the Grandpa.

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  2. The library makes me break out in a cold sweat-at least when my kids are with me. Next time you should give your books to the front desk to be checked in-that's what they do at mine so you don't have to worry about your limit.

    I agree, your kids are very adorable! :)

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  3. I loved the way you told that story. And I agree too, your kids are cute!

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  4. I know what you mean! I took my girls to one last week and it was a struggle to keep them quiet:) It's worth it for the books though!

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  5. How sweet that that driver took the time to stop and tell you that. That must have made your day. So often I keep compliments to myself. You never know when a kind word is just what someone might need.

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  6. We love the library, It does not love us. Oh well we will still go.

    Life is all about perspective

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  7. I can see this all quite vividly. It's the adorable ones we have to watch out for.

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  8. I know how you feel about the library! It is hard to take more than one kid, but those librarians can be so stern and MEAN! How nice of that person to stop and say how cute your little ones are. Makes me want to open my mouth and say the nice things I THINK but don't always verbalize.

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  9. Yeah, ironically, the library and children don't mix very well... but you do have a couple cuties.

    Loved the post.

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  10. We are new to the library, but my kidlets are terrific there. They're a little older than yours and I think maybe we didn't brave it before because I was afraid of what might happen.

    And no matter how much noise they make - your kids are darling. It was sweet of that driver to notice and to share with you

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  11. That picture is darling!!!

    Perspective is right! :)

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  12. People who stop and say that just make your day so nice! It's good to have perspective!

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