Library Day

Shortly after Jonah was born I realized that I was in desperate need of a little more structure and predictability around our outings.  When it was just me and Nicole our trips to the grocery store and the library were as much social as they were productive.  We'd head to the library whenever we needed to return a book or were itching to discover some new-to-us titles.  We regularly went to the grocery store at least twice a week and never hesitated about running back out to grab the one thing I forgot to add to our list.   I was balancing multiple due-dates for our library materials and my menu planning was constant.   I had thought about overhauling the inefficiency of it all multiple times but always used the rational that we were enjoying ourselves and it was fun to have a reason to leave the house together.

Story Time with big sister Nicole, April 2018 

And then frequent naps, regular feedings and constant diapering made it seem like we would never successfully leave the house again.  As I adjusted to our new circumstances I realized that I had an opportunity to plan our week in a way that would serve all of us and create much-needed anticipation around what was to come.  "Shopping Day", "Library Day" and "Bible Study Day" were put in place and we haven't looked back since.

I could talk to you for a long time about the benefits of having a specific day of the week for specific tasks, but what I really want to communicate is how fantastic its been for my relationship with Nicole to plan for and anticipate our time at the library.

A few days before "library day" Nicole and I find some quiet time to pour over the online catalog together and start chatting about what new books we want to read, which of our current books we're ready to return and which ones we want to renew.   We enthusiastically put our selections on reserve and wait with anticipation for the emails to start coming in letting us know that our books are ready for pickup.   We talk about the books we're going to read all week long and then happily usher library day in with pleasure and joy.

Our drive to the library is always pleasant and picking up the books that we carefully selected days earlier is often accompanied by numerous enthusiastic outbursts from Nicole and the constant refrain of, "lets read that book right now!" We hurry home with our haul, gently tuck Jonah into his crib for his nap and then cozy up to read.

Reading our new library books on our patio last week

I think that Nicole loves ever part of library day, and Jonah loves all of the attention he gets from the library staff, but my favorite part is the reading.  Intentionally settling into a comfy space to discover new words, make friends with the characters and connect over the books straddled between us is something I look forward to all week.  It's some of the best relationship building time that I get to spend with Nicole and it's time that we both get to fondly remember each time we re-read our library books as the days, weeks and months go by.

As Jonah and Nicole continue to grow up I know that our library day routine will shift.  I don't know how it will look in the future but I am choosing to celebrate what it is right now and gratefully welcome whatever it will be down the road. Something tells me that library day will be a special day in our house for a long time to come. 

Love,
Erica