"And sometimes you close your eyes/ And see the place where you used to live/ When you were young"

Today I did something I've never done before: I got my very own library card! Yep and I'm 22. And an aspiring author. Buuuuut, I just always used my mom's card when I was little (and trust me, we caravanned it over to the library once a week and I would beg my mom for more books each time) and then I guess when I had money, I just purchased my own books as opposed to borrowing them.

The main reason I got one is because I no long have money to spend frivolously and I still really want to read Jackson's book As You Wish. However the library won't let you search the catalog unless you have a card so I gave in. I went to the library today and searched through the YA section for Jackson's book (it wasn't there. super bummed) and a couple others. But as I was searching the stacks, I saw SO many titles that I loved when I was younger. It was so nostalgic. Chocolate Fever, Walk Two Moons, Manic Magee, The Phantom Tollbooth, the Amber Brown (Is Not a Crayon) series, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Ella Enchanted, and SO many others. Could I tell you the plot of ANY of these? Nope. But my memory was jogged when I saw the familiar titles and fonts and book covers. Sure they were nestled between the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, the Princess Diaries books, Harry Potter, and Twilight but at least they are still hanging around.

Oh and the series that I absolutely LOVED were the Wayside School books. The kids at my school were also OBSESSED. Like you knew which kid had checked them out, so you would follow them to the library on the day they had to return it so you could harass the librarian once they dropped it in the box so you could be the next owner. Well that or we would all race to the section where they were (a top shelf towards the back of the library. STILL can picture it) if no one in our class had been the lucky recipient. That's how obsessed we were. But it's funny cause no one else I've talked to remembers these books. Come on people! The school that was supposed to be 30 classrooms on one floor but instead it is 30 floors with one classroom on each (minus the 19th floor... it doesn't exist), with the teacher that turned students into apples by wiggling her tongue and ears, the friendly gym teacher named Louis, the three Erics, the girl with the cutest missing front teeth but they are actually there, the girl with the long braid that the boy grabs onto when he falls out of the window, the boy who always gets in trouble for the smallest things and has to ride home with the kindergarteners, and so many other stories. I actually found two of the books at a used bookstore and snatched those up. I can't wait for niece SD to want to read them since I'm sure she will LOVE them.

Oh childhood, how I miss those simpler times. Sigh.