Care, Curiosity, and Stories

Me around that time

 Now: rebuilding my YA collection

When I was a kid, my dad had a monthly preaching appointment about five hours south of where we lived. He worked full-time too, as a sales manager, so Friday after work and school,  we’d pile into the car and drive down to the nearest church member's house. This was California, maybe around 1980. 

 

We’d get there around 11 PM, and James and Margie always had the table spread with every kind of food we could want. They lived in a little town north of Santa Barbara, right near the beach. Sometimes the next day, Margie would take us to look for seashells, and we always found the best ones. They had wonderful cookouts too, and they were so warm, happy, and kind that it felt like the whole world fit into their little house.

 

You might think I’d be most excited about the water. That was pretty cool, but my favorite thing was sitting on the chest freezer in their garage, reading through the large collection of young adult novels they kept there. 

Restocking my library now (yay, Friends of the Library Bookstore!) I can’t help but think back to those evenings when someone would say, "Where's Katie?" and then laugh when they found me reading again. I’m so thankful to be in this home, making a space where a young guest can stretch out with a book and feel the same sense of welcome and warmth I felt at James and Margie's. I am making a home like theirs, filled with care, curiosity, and stories.