Our family chose to visit the library today. It was nice to walk through each section, grabbing books that grabbed my attention. It also brought me back to my childhood, when library visits provided an escape from the bedlam called "home". I distinctly remembered how that little white house in front of my elementary school gave me a chance to experience "normal", to see how the outside world functioned, to witness how "regular" people lived. Back then, library manners were important....NO talking!! I think that's why I liked it the best. No one to make fun of me, no one to yell at me. The whole world stopped coming at me in the library. I liked that.
Fast forward a few decades: a library is now a thriving, vibrant environment for learning and exploring. One does not have to feel muted, especially in the children's section. The exchange of ideas is allowed and even encouraged. Today, SRR made a new friend while MGR looked at books. This little boy, without fanfare and formality, bonded with SRR as they played with the above toy. They worked together to create roller coasters that would crash into each other as well as roller coasters that would reach their destinations. These two future engineers dialogued about what would work the best and what wouldn't, what the plan would be and how did it work in the end. Sadly, the little boy had to leave when his mom was done at the checkout counter.
SRR, being the social creature that he is, found another little boy sitting in the children's section. He recognized the boy as one of his preschool classmates, "A". SRR was all excited, even calling over to me (taboo in the old days) to tell me he found this boy. "A", dressed head to toe in labeled clothing and wearing an iPod, was SRR's age, but wanted nothing to do with him except to brag about his iPod. No interaction, no playing with toys, just "I have this and you don't". As I was overhearing the conversation (my mommy feathers getting ruffled by the second), I thought this to be a sad moment for SRR. He had just finished playing nicely with a boy he never met, to reuniting with this snotty thug that I wasn't fond of when they were in preschool together. The icing on the cake was when SRR was talking with him, he got up mid-sentence and left my boy there, hanging. No goodbye, no "Say goodbye to your friend" from his mom. Nada. My heart hurt.
While we drove home, SRR talked about the incident. He expressed his hurt feelings and felt "A" was rude. I told him sometimes it's just better to be by yourself than to be with people who are hurtful. I know.....
Until next time....read away!
