Library, Attempt #2

So, I finally got up the guts to visit the library again. I'd like to say that the trip was a success . . .
but I can't.

Most of our time there was a quiet delight . . . it was Easter monday and Gennie and Kev were off of school so we went to get a few books for G to practice reading and a movie or two (or the whole set of season 1 of Gilmore Girls because I can't get enough and don't want to annoy my friends by constantly borrowing their sets). J played in the kids' section while we browsed and was really quiet and respectful, leading me to believe that we might be allowed back in the library on a more regular basis. Hope dawned on the horizon. . .

Then as we were gathering up our choices and getting coats on to leave, J decided to peek at one more book . . . and with a great RIIIIPPPing sound, tore a page clean out of the book. Not along the spine so that it isn't noticable. No, he ripped it right down the middle of the page, so that the tape needed to put it back together will forever go right through the picture and the words of the story.

He's hard on books, we know. We have several around the house here that bear the marks of J's eager attempts to read like his sister. And really I don't mind taping them back together; there are several books from my own childhood that are currently held together with 20 year old Scotch tape. But the ladies at the library obviously hold the books there in the same esteem as their own children. Has your kid ever ripped the arm off the librarian's son? :)

With a great sigh I picked up the book and took it to the front desk to tell the librarian. I braced myself for the impending diatribe about how my kid needs to learn how to appropriately handle such a revered item as A Library Book. But I was pleasantly surprised. Thankfully, she looked very grandmotherly and understanding, and said that kind of thing happens and that she'd see that it got repaired. Kev made Jo appologize to her for ripping her book and he did, and was clearly embarrassed that he had to do it . . . I must admit he's a very penitent kid when he gets caught.

One of these days I'll be able to enter an establishment and not be concerned with whether or not I'll ever be able to return.

Just not today.