After my first two semesters, I accurately assessed my work/school/life commitments and realized I could either work full time and a) take two classes in town or b) commute to one class out of town. I later discovered that if I took an entire day off of work due to banked leave (a budget savings tactic whereby state workers had “banked” time we’d worked but not been paid for during tough economic times), I could commute and take two classes out of town on the same day. Cool.
What I knew would be too much, however, would be taking one class in town, commuting to one class out of town, and working 40 hours. I was feeling overwhelmed. I strongly considered taking a semester off. Hubby talked me out of it; concerned I’d be forever-one-class-away-from-a-degree. So, one guess as to what I did my last semester? You got it.
And it was just as bad as I thought it would be. I felt completely overwhelmed.
I also told myself when I started library school that good, bad, indifferent, snow, rain, shine, lousy profs, cool TAs, heavy workloads, etc., etc., every semester was only 14 weeks long and I could get through 14 weeks of anything. After awhile I realized a semester was 20 weeks. I gritted my teeth and re-applied this mental principle. I was clinging to it.
I was really looking forward to graduation. I was also looking forward to a cross-country road trip to move friends, their Mr. Nearly Five Year Old son, their kitten, and a harp from Lansing to Portland, Oregon. I was taking a week off to help with that in March of my final semester.
Who would have thought that someone raised by a life-long library worker who grew up in the stacks of an academic library, who did cross-continental research at some of the English-speaking world’s best-known libraries as an undergrad, and had collected library cards at 5 libraries within 10 miles of her home despite MeLCat because, well, each had something different to offer, would have actually gone through with it?
OK, perhaps it wasn’t a stretch. Perhaps it was more like destiny.
And what grand fun it was! Not just what I learned, but the new circle of colleagues, and knowing that I was now part of a profession. That I had a place to contribute.
Plus, being a librarian is just plain cool.
I visited my grandma regularly during library school. She wanted to throw a big family graduation party. We had three graduations in the spring of 2006. The entire extended family was planning to come.
My Aunt Charlotte planned to make three (count them THREE) cakes. True, we were feeding more than 20 people, but wasn’t it awesome that she did one for each of the graduates?
For me, she made my favorite: a pineapple upside down cake. What’s more, she and my Uncle Tom had to transport them from their home near Lake Erie so it was a a haul.
Planning the party with Grandma was a lot of fun. During my graduate school years when I was visiting her regularly in Ann Arbor, I would give her a manicure while we chatted. I’d tell her about something I had learned in class that I thought might interest her. She would tell me about the latest Danielle Steel novel she had read, and then we’d watch one or two of those re-created crime dramas “ripped from the headlines,” or “based on a true story.” It was a perfect afternoon.
My grandma passed away several years after I graduated. I miss her warm and constant presence in my life. In my bones I knew that I was loved unconditionally for exactly who I am and that I could do no wrong
(except maybe, just maybe, decide to be a tour guide at Monticello with my college education).
Plum Librarian LLC 