Thoughts on a Wild Month - Part 1 - Leaving the Library
July and August have been the craziest time in my memory, starting with Mike losing his job. Then my job search, finding a home, moving - I had three weeks to move my family and my life halfway across the state!! I don't know how I did it all. Really, wild as it all was, I think this move was meant to be, so much fell into place so easily. We are too blessed.
That doesn't mean it was simple. The last week before the move I was running on stress and caffiene, having nightmares, sleeping rarely and spending too much time on the road. But, I am a real proponent of suck it up and go, and I did what I had to to get us here and fast. I accepted the new job on a Thursday, started online house hunting Friday and Sunday we had rented a place in our new town. My new boss, Marlene, told me she was "astounded at my efficiency" as far as the move. That made me smile because I was pretty astounded myself.
My last days at the
tlls were harried, hurried and all to short. I gave my notice on July 18th and the 31st was my last official day so we could get to Gainesville before Peanut started school.
It was so dejected about giving up my job, particularly when it came to leaving my coworker-friends. Many of the people I worked with I have known for seven years! Not an eternity, but a nearly a quarter of my lifetime! Some of my former coworkers are like family, and almost all of my post-collegiate years were spent at that library. We have all grown up together, with marriages and divorces, graduations, deaths in the family, births of children and the shared experience of surviving our crazy former director. All that bonded us as much as the bawdy tales we shared in the upstairs office and the MP3 trivia games. Not to mention my Young Adult collection and programming, the first in our system, my babies before I had babies, which I had to leave to be sheperded by others. Turning over my keys on August 1st felt like cutting the umbilical cord.
The library gave me a going away party after my last day. We all met up at Bojo's near the lake and ate and drank and shared stories from our last seven years of service to TLLS. Because some of the people who used to be just my buddies became my superiors over the years, I think a distance had developed betwen us. I just felt like it wasn't appropriate to have the same kinds of conversations with my supervisors, you know, about *ahem* sex and other personal things, that I used to. Since I was leaving,
gwtw_princess requested some "Wild Lisa" stories and how could I disappoint? I told some old favorites, and some new stories they hadn't heard - like the one about my exboyfriend that got caught having sex with his new, underage girlfriend and when he tried to run away, got picked up by the Forrestry Department and about the cruise ship DJ I was so proud to have seduced...when I was 16, lol! We all hung out for about four hours. I am just sad
barryreese couldn't make it, darn his visiting sister in law, because he was the best director we ever had and an all around cool guy.
And then there were my sweet patrons. Carol and Rupinder, Sheila and Mickey, Josh, Mr. Beeler, Miss Linda, Miss Dot, the Smiths, the Greenes. They made my little library a home and there was nothing better than seeing them walk through the door. In those last few weeks, leaving my patrons made me feel the most conflicted, just expressing their distress at my going and being their sweet selves. They were always giving me little things, organic corn from the garden, a plate of oatmeal raisin cookies, free pizza, one even called me from home to say "Hey, we just grilled out and I have extra hotdogs. Miss Lisa, can we bring you a couple for lunch?" I mean, how cool is that!
Mickey's 15 and his parents are in the midst of a nasty divorce, Carol is taking care of her father who's in the advanced stages of Alzheimers, Rupinder speaks broken English and needs help getting Visas for her family to India, Mr. Beeler is just older and divorced and lonely. That was one thing I really took away from working at the Lake Sinclair Library - that in this great big hyper-connected world, just how many people feel isolated. It was my pleasure to take care of them. I was afraid I would never get that sense of community at an academic library, never have patrons that were so grateful for a helpful, friendly face at the desk. The times I felt close to crying were saying goodbye to them.
But, I know that even though I miss them, they are being well taken care of. I asked for
snazzybookmom from the main branch to possibly get transferred to the lake. She is sweet and skilled and I felt a really good fit for the lake. She liked the idea too, so now she's sitting in my lil' office, dealing with cool patrons and annoying routers.
Rupinder bought me a mug that I have already taken to my new job. On one side it says "Do What You Love," and the other says "Love What You Do." I did love my old job, enough that my enthusiasm tranlated to my coworkers and patrons. It was at the TLLS that I realized librarianship was the profession I was called for, so no matter where I go, no matter the imperfections, like a first love, it will always have a place in my heart.
Part Two to follow shortly...about the actual Move. I realized this was going to have to be a series since I have been such an errant journalist lately. Part Three will be the return to my hometown and last but certainly not least, Part Four, the new job!