Prompt: Write about the library.
Today I came in with my nerd tote and attached to it is my “I love the library” pin.
I packed backup pens to my backup pens and felt joy sitting down at this writing table. My first love of the library came from me wanting a copy of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
My mom could not afford a copy. Instead, she packed three kids into a red wagon and off we went in the hot summer heat. Five miles each way with one determined mom.
The library was our happy place.
Through the years, I visited many libraries. Ones with creaky old floors that looked like Hobbit houses.
Tiny ones, no more than a room in the smallest of towns. And I was fortunate enough to see the renovations done at Denver Public Library.
They were a safe space for those who needed warmth, access to knowledge and a place to get lost in your own mind while reading from the mind of others. The kindness of the staff seemed universal and if you came across a grumpy one it felt endearing.
The library got me through, from childhood to college. The place where endless tutoring, mentoring and gathering helped a little girl who was told she would never read.
In this place I became a little more nerdy and open to exploring endless opportunities within reach.
For every door it opens to people who may have been told all the other doors were closed: thank you, libraries.
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