Do we run in libraries?

Well, it's official...I have moved and am squarely settled dead center in le Midwest. Correction: I am not close to "settled" here. However, the cogs are in motion. I am staying with a great childhood friend and her husband who have been so generous to host my bum self. And they are probably just as relieved as I that I am in the process of settling on a new apartment to rent. Aaaah. Things will shake out.

I started my job at an elementary school, and it couldn't be more different than my previous high school position. I don't recall any high schoolers ever asking for princess books or breaking out of their line to hug me whether or not they knew who I was or running (yes, running) across the library to beat their classmates to that certain book they wanted. Do you know how satisfying it is as a librarian to have to constantly remind my patrons they must not run for or fight over books? It was everything I could do at my old high school to get books checked out. Heck, I would have been happy if they snuck them out in their backpacks (I suspect there was very little of that) just as long as they read something. These kids, these elementary kids, are so darn eager they emit actual cries of excitement and genuine oohs and aaahs when they step through the library doors. It is the best feeling, let me tell you.

Please note: It has been a whirlwind of a couple months, but I hope to be back to posting more regularly soon. Now that Dave and I have shifted to a long distance scenario, I can no longer use his computer to post. I must, gulp, purchase my own laptop. The travesty! I don't enjoy spending a lot of dough on anything so I've been dragging my feet.

That being said I have had many literary events of recent which I'd like to discuss with you including finally reading The City of Ember and...joining a book club (in other words, entering a stage of adulthood usually reserved for ladies in their mid-40s). Oh, and I gave up on A Song of Ice and Fire (sorry, Winterfell. Your intriguing plot line was overshadowed by Martin's masochistic writing style, and I could no longer stomach it.).

Don't leave me faithful reader(s). Dare I hope for more than one? I promise more books soon.

New Job!

Somebody's looking out for me because (drumroll please...) I got a JOB...at an elementary school. I took a risk, left my high school position in Boston town, and headed west, to the Midwest that is. And with a little luck, a lot of failed interviews, and the hard work of my great boyfriend Dave who continued to submit applications on my behalf while I galavanted around the woods with nary a care, I got a job. And it is at an elementary school! Be still my heart!

I need to flex my K-5 muscles. Criss cross applesauce? Line cutting? "I Lost a Tooth" congratulatory certificates? Bring it all on.

Also, I'm moving. To a new town. Alone. My mom and I took an exploratory trip there today to scout apartments. It started dismally but ended on a high note.

I am equal parts excited and terrified which is how I approach most things in my life. And there are, of course, 101 tasks to complete between now and my first day (3 short days from now). But I think I'll just find some new books to read and that should ease my anxiety.

What say you, Gone with the Wind? Shall we dance?
P.S. Please enjoy this photo montage of my younger days. This is what I still look like when sleeping...over 20 years later:

Also, look past the gut and note the call number and bar code on that book...a library patron from the get go. Start them young, folks!

I went away.

I went away for July.

I went away in place and time.

I went paddling in Canada, canoe paddling, that is. And I found a little bit of myself, a little bit that was once a big bit, a little bit that I had let go dormant for 5 years. And I breathed life into that bit. It was difficult. It taxed my bones and my mind, but it was the best kind of difficult.

When I was in college, I spent my summers near Ely, Minnesota guiding canoe trips for Boy Scouts in the Boundary Waters and Quetico Provincial Park. I learned about a million and one things including J strokes, wet-foot portaging, and donut frying in the woods. But really, all of those sappy life skills like self reliance and confidence and living in a certain stillness made up the truly valuable bulk of my gained knowledge.

Then, I did things like internships and graduate classes and vacations in the summers ever since. I had burned out, so to speak, and thought that part of my life was over. Each summer I'd put out the feelers and see if I could go up. Maybe I could squeeze in a trip or two? And then I'd back out. There were valid reasons, but there were also excuses to stay away.

Until this summer. My good friend from Ely, Mr. Fred Marks, had begun directing another Boy Scout base in Bissett, Manitoba, a teeny, tiny gold mining town about 3 hours northeast of Winnipeg. And he encouraged me to return. Again and again. So finally, I did. And I spent some time paddling in the Atikaki Provincial Park.

Can I tell you what it means to go back to your college job, a job that you loved so much it became a part of your identity during that time in your life? Even though I was at a different base, guiding Boy Scouts through the wilderness once again gave me some severe flash backs. The gear, the smell of it, the tents airing out, the canoe bruises on my forearm, the trail food, even the few people I know who continue to work for the base, their mannerisms, it brought me back in such a poignant way. And I was admittedly overwhelmed. But now that I am back here in Indiana, I can see that I really needed that perspective to show me how much has happened in my life since college, how deep down, I am still the same person. And that is a person I like. I always want to be the person I was when I was 20. (*Thank you for teaching me that lesson, Fred.)

Then:

Now:

Not much has changed, right?

While I was there, I read a book by two employees of the base. I know real authors! Fred Marks and Jay Timmerman, both guides, paddled from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay, a journey of about 1400 miles (!!!)...and then they wrote a book about it, a book I stayed up late reading with my headlamp and the mosquitos and a chill in my bones during the truly frightening parts. Jay and Fred and several other former guides packed up a few summers ago and portaged and paddled along historic fur trade routes once traveled by Native Americans and voyageurs alike with York Factory on Hudson Bay marked as the last stop. The story of this adventure is recorded in Far Distant Echo: A Journey by Canoe from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay.

Fred and Jay both describe every, darn detail of their expedition from food packing to navigation, from legendary North Woods folks to the welcoming people who call the area home today. Delicately interwoven into the logistics of their story is the route's historical relevance. This mix of logistics and context helps the book remain not just an account but a window into a place and a culture. Despite their no nonsense writing styles, the emotion comes through when either Fred or Jay write of a particularly interesting piece of history or an inspiring adventurer.

The real climax of the story occurs on Lake Winnipeg, a massive lake the crew must cross while heading north...a distance of about 250 miles. Imagine, if you will, the wind and waves whipped up on a lake of that size. Do so in the safety of your own bed where you can rest at ease. For me, reading this book even on my week long trips this summer gave me the heebie jeebies and real anxiety. Jay talks of crew members praying as they paddled thinking they had seen the end of their days on such harrowing water. This setting is where the group is truly tested and the reader finds out who will push on and who will back out.

Anyway, I couldn't get enough of Far Distant Echo and strongly encourage you to read it whether you consider yourself at home in the great outdoors or if you'd prefer living your adventures vicariously. And if you don't believe me, check out this review. We both agree!

I promised Fred that every library I'll ever work in will have its own copy of Far Distant Echo. And that is a promise I intend to keep even at my new elementary school library where I start work in 4 short days! More on that later.