*OMG WHO Still Has a Library Card These Days???*

I never thought back-in-the-day that a day would come I’d hear the words @ OMG who has a library card these days?? The comment was made in reference to an experience I’d just had..Did I tell y’all about it yet? Well it happened a couple of months back>>

Few months back on my lunch I went to pick up an online order from a popular eatery..This is a TRUE story folks I could never make this ‘ish UP..So anyways ran up to the front of the line(yay! there are advantages to pre-ordering..) past a long line of folks waiting to get in..Was HOT as heck outside & I was flustered from the heat & rushing cause I was starved! Wound up chatting with the clerk serving me & quickly handed her my card for payment..Said a few parting words & laughter/grabbed my receipt from here /and off I went back to the office..Soon as I got there one of my co-workers was cracking up as she said , “Did you LOOK at your receipt?” I had to admit that I hadn’t..So I dug down into the bag of food & looked at it. To my surprise & shock it said DECLINED..Wth?!? Next my co-worker said the eatery had just called to say I needed to come back to pay for the food..Ouch!, how embarassing..BUT there is NO way my card should’ve declined..Then I reached into the front of my wallet where I had quickly put the card I’d paid for the food with..It wasn’t a debit or credit card..IT WAS MY LIBRARY CARD I’d whipped out by accident. Jeeeez who does this kind of stuff by accident? And how is it possible the clerk had run the card & hadn’t noticed it? And how is it possible she just handed me my receipt & bid me good-bye??? Guess this sort of stuff can(and it DID) happen when in a very , crowded eatery & rushing..The extra shock the comments I got from co-workers..Oh, of course it was the LAUGH of the week for everyone..Yet, the one comment that stuck in my mind was ” OMG, who still has a library card these days??” Well I’ve got MY hand raised up high & waving..As hip as I think I am I’m proud to say I’m a library-card-carrying-& USING-chick!>>

Last night I was ordering a couple of books online from the LIBRARY & it brought this topic to mind..Could it ever be possible for public libraries to become a thing of the PAST? Oh, the horror! I can’t speak for anyone else but there is a feeling I get when I’m in the library..Just makes me FEEL smarter around all those books..I even love the smell & feel of books..Honestly? I study my best when I’m sitting in a quiet library..Its almost as IF the words leap off the page into my mind. >>

I think of all the things this generation & the ones behind it won’t have that I was able to partake in..Things that have become extinct..For instance the experience of family outings to the drive-in movie..WOW..Anyone remember those times? Good times for real..BUT is the public library soon going to be added to that list @things nevermore? Proof positive of things NOT used; you lose IT..Slowly but surely library hours are being shortened & library personnel laid off..Isn’t knowledge & education STILL a priceless thing in our country? Long ago my Daddy taught me to READ; before I could even speak properly..I followed by doing the same with my sons..It was a treasured outing! Heck, I thought I was raising scholars! (come to find out I was…) Money wasn’t something I had alot of during my short stints of single Mom/divorced Mom; but I could provide them with a place to READ. So glad I was taught that what I put into MY head; could never be taken away..Oh, the places I’ve gone by reading books! Places I’ve added onto my must-go-one-day-list. Oh, the things I’ve self-taught myself by reading books! >>

Bottom line IS if WE don’t use public libraries they’ll close one by one..Funds will simply be diverted to other things; perhaps things we can’t benefit from. I sure hope that day NEVER comes..So hopeful I am that people reading this will venture out & take their children to the library. Teach! them to use it to their advantage..It is FREE. A wealth of information..One can’t google up something they can’t SEE. Or least that is the way I see it. Until I read/write y’all again stay UPlifted & blessed, 4ever Sincere, Berna(the 1 & Only)