Shhhhhhh

I've taken my kids to the library. It goes anywhere from well to nightmarish, depending on the alignment of the moon and the stars and the amount of patience stored in my tiny patience reservoir.

Since M and K started school, however, I've waited until Thursday afternoons to make the jaunt to the library. I pick out DVDs and books for the kids as usual but I also make time to make some selections for myself. I've recently read The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel and I'm currently reading Quentins by Maeve Binchy. I checked all of these books out at the library and I've had plenty of time to read them since I'm up coughing and blowing my nose most of the night.

The last three Thursdays that I've gone to the library I've been there at the same time as another mother.

I know it's her without even looking up.

She's the one who is speaking in a very loud voice. She's repeatedly telling her kids to GO PICK OUT ONE BOOK! while her kids respond to her in quiet voices that they'd like to play one more game on the computer.

I look around every time, wondering if I'm the only one who finds it strange that the grown woman is the one who doesn't know the "quiet rule" in the library. No one else seems to notice. I guess because I'm the only other person in the area. Thursday afternoons are apparently not a hot time to go to the library in this city.

I want to go "Shhhhhhhh" at her, but instead I just shake my head.