My own version of Cheers!

There’s a steady stream of cars driving by the building. I can hear them but the noise is shushed to a low bubbling, like water running in the sink. It’s noticeable, but nothing that’s going to catch your attention. A worker walks the aisles replacing books from a cart. Two older women at different tables work away, heads down on laptops. Mostly all I hear is the beep-beep of the book checkout.

I’m deep in my own thoughts. I’m in deep list making mode. I’ve already made a list of Action Items, everything I need to get done over the next week. I’ve moved on next to brainstorming writing ideas. I’m thinking of story ideas and the places I want to go in the future. I stop occasionally and it hits me: “Why don’t I do this more often.” Why isn’t this a regular part of my schedule? Why don’t I make more time for myself?

In a quiet zone

Getting away does me good. The quiet does me good.

Instead I get caught up in outside obligations and expectations. I’m like everyone else, I let my cell phone and social media get in the way. I let the mundane deadlines of life . . . take over my life.

I forget about the value of taking some alone time. I forget that I need to schedule time away with, well, little old me. I forget how important time alone can be to me. I tell myself for the fiftieth time in the past five minutes: “Let’s make this a regular date Brian!”

Yo, yo, Bri-guy is here

Right on cue, I get the image of the TV show Cheers. When Norm, the Cheers’ regular, walks into the bar each episode, everyone would yell out his name. I want that. When I walk into the library, I want everyone to shout out “Bri . . . an!” in a loud crescendo. And for the librarian to look behind her kiosk and to give everyone a big “shush.”

Don’t we all want that? To go “where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.” I spend a few more minutes writing in my journal. At the end, I look at my calendar and look for another date to come back to the library.

I finish up saying: “See you next time, same time, and same place.”

How I want my library experience to be.

Images are from Pexels.