Absence Makes the Heart...

One of my bosses--the one who was in charge of creating the public desk schedules for my department--retired over the summer and now, along with one fewer staff member (sniff, sniff), we've got a new person doing the scheduling. This change has resulted in a greater variety of people working in the TeenSpace during the after-school hours. I'm usually in Teen at least once a week, but I'm not often there 3 or more times a week like I used to be. This change, coupled with the public school's winter break, meant I had a semi-long stretch of days free from after-school TeenSpace craziness. Frankly, I kind of missed it.

This week school's back in full swing and I was back in TeenSpace--Monday, Tuesday, and I'll be there again tomorrow. Before school let out on Monday, I was a little worried that I'd lost my TeenSpace mojo. Maybe working up on the second floor had made me forget how to roll with my middle school buds. But I hadn't. Being back in the small, crowded room full of 30-40 loud 6th, 7th, and 8th graders felt nicely familiar. In no other part of the library am I greeted by name (usually both first and last because "Betsy Su" is far too cool a name to ever separate). In turn, this is the only spot in the library where I know all the faces and at least half of the names of every single person in the room.

I don't think I'm a beloved figure. I'm just not friendly enough for that. But, by this time of the year, I am a somewhat accepted fixture in the lives of the kids--that library lady who's always around. And that's not a totally bad thing to be.