What I Learned At the Library Book Sale

For two hours today I volunteered as a cashier at the library's children's book sale.

There were four official cashiers during my shift, and I was the youngest by about 30 years.

Here are a few things I learned:

• Ball point pens were introduced in the mid 1940's at a cost of $26 per pen. You could shave $8 off that cost if you were purchasing them in the military.
• A good calculator in 1972 cost about $85.
• Everyone over the age of 70 moves at their own speed and they certainly DO NOT multitask.

Normally I'm not big on volunteering, principally because I hate meetings. But being a library cashier was a good gig. There was a definitive start and end time, and someone bought me an orange soda. Never once did my fellow cashiers interrupt me. They didn't bicker and they sat still for long periods of time without fidgeting. They didn't e-mail me, send "nastygrams", text me, phone me, or require my attendance at a brainstorming session. There was no laundry, no cooking, no vacuuming. Just some pleasant conversation, some addition, and the making of change.

I envied the pace of my septuagenarian colleagues. I am always looking forward, always "on task." Everything I do is in a hurry. But my friends at the library attended to their duties with care and calm, with focus on the now. I think I need to take a lesson from that. And maybe I'll find some time to revisit a children's book. There certainly are alot of them. And you can buy them cheap at the library book sale!

tlc