Back In Time

 Last night I went to my book club meeting.  Another member was presenting book options for us to vote on when, whoosh!  I traveled back in time.  I left the meeting and cartwheeled, head over heels, back in time about half a century (don't judge) to when I was in third grade.  My Dad took me to the library.  I got my first library card.  If I remember right my card was orange (my favorite color) or possibly peach.  On the cardboard card was a small metal strip with numbers embossed on it.  I chose my first books to borrow from the library.  I got two and I remember them clearly.  I got Heidi by Johanna Spryl and The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.  I got two of the best children's books ever written.  I loved Heidi!  She ate bread and cheese for lunch with her grumpy grandfather.  Just being with him changed him into a nicer man.  Heidi walked the mountain side and made friends with the goatherd, Peter, who had a blind mother.  And after I finished Heidi I read the Wizard of Oz.  Although the movie had been out for years I never saw it until it was shown on television.  My first trip to the Emerald City was mostly in my mind.  What a wonderful trip up the yellow brick road it was.  Dorothy was the heroine of a modern day fairy tale and I loved every single word of it.  The Cowardly Lion was my friend and so was the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. Flying monkeys and wicked witches were not my friends.  Ever since that first day, libraries have been an important part of my life.  I always have books out from the library.  I have six checked out right now. I've saved thousands of dollars by using the library.  I was lucky. I got hooked on the library on my first trip when the librarian stamped the due date on a small card and put it in a pocket inside the back cover of Heidi and the Wizard of Oz.  Not all books have been as good as those first two but I'm glad i started with Heidi of Switzerland and Dorothy from Kansas.