That beautiful house that you moved into seems perfect, but after a few months you see the little flaws. That graceful landing with the two steps up or down to anywhere in the house, now is an impediment as the old dog struggles up the stairs.
That kitchen that you just renovated- -it’s so beautiful, but the cabinets are just a little too high. It’s so annoying to have to grab the stool every time you want something from that just-out-of-reach second shelf.
That stylish shirt that you bought- now that you’re wearing it, you find it’s just a little too tight across the shoulders and you’re constantly tugging.
Nothing’s perfect. We might not see the flaws right away, but they show up as we become comfortable in a space or a garment-or even with a person.
So it is – and was – with our beloved Lampert Library. As the library has grown and as we use it regularly for the preschool, the limitations of the layout have become evident.
Thank goodness for the flood! We have lost our bookshelves and the library won’t look the same. But as Sam Lampert, after whose son Alan the library is named, said when I told him of the water damage, “What about the books? They are the heart of our library. “And, as far as we know, they are safe.
Of course, we are not really thankful for the flood-it’s one flood too many-but having to reinvent the library gives us an opportunity to reassess and make it a more useful space and maybe squeeze a few more bookshelves in to contain our ever expanding collection.
It’ll be like making delicious, refreshing lemonade from sour lemons.
Or to put it in a Jewish context, making etrog marmalade from those bitter, thick skinned, filled -with-seeds etrogs left from Sukkot.
By the way, the Lampert Library has taken to the road. A few weeks ago, I visited the preschool at Temple Shalom in Cedar Grove; Tuesday I went to B’nai Keshet with stories for Tu B’Shevat.
The Lampert Library is YOUR library. I’d welcome input from anyone with space allocation expertise. I know from experience that four eyes are better than two. It’s so easy to be lulled into complacency
A new set of eyes often sees easy solutions to problems. Please contact me at email hidden; JavaScript is required if you’d like to work on a new layout for the even better Lampert Library.
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Great essay, Aileen! I don’t envy you the work of re-inventing the library space and I regret not being able to help you. I am “spatial-relationship” challenged, in that I can’t see how things relate to each other in physical space. But I wish you good luck in the work, and I stand ready to get back to digitizing whenever you are ready.