Giving Thanks: I am thankful for libraries.

I remember my first library card. It was made of light brown cardboard. This was back in the days when the librarian stamped the due date on the paper slip glued inside the front cover of the book. The card catalog consisted of real cards in little drawers in a cabinet. Most often I just walked along the shelves and pulled out whatever looked interesting. I tended to check out large piles of books at a time, and spent hours reading. I do remember playing outside as a child. We had trees to climb, and haystacks to jump off of, a grain auger to use as a teeter totter, and all the other interesting things generally found around a farm. But books were my greatest adventures. The library had more books than even I could hope to read. Eventually, I discovered the stairs that lead from the children's section in the basement to the grownup section on the main floor. Then I just kept reading.