The Last week at My Library Job

First off, my coworkers put up a poster announcing the party, and they got the perfect picture from Xxxholic to put on the party poster.

Then there was a power outage the morning of the party (we open late on Wednesday, so the party was 11-12:30) so they were late getting together and wouldn't let me in till everything was done. Our youngest page, who is a fellow nerd and anime fan, came to the Information Staff office to amuse me with anime stuff on YouTube. We watched two eps of YuGiOh! Abridged.

My coworkers had set up many of my favorite foods--homemade chicken lo mein from one of my awesome Taiwanese-American coworkers, strawberry-rhubarb pie, brownies, pumpkin pie (I don't know *how* Margarete found it at this time of year but she did!). Then we had presentations--flowers from one of my coworkers and from our Friends of the Library, a framed picture of a little girl reading that I love especially because of the quotation that goes with it ("Disgusted with life, she retired to the society of books"), a card with a manga page on it with sad girls and a penguin (the city's mascot--and the library's--is a penguin) and lots of good wishes from coworkers written inside.

Then came the musical numbers. Our head page Mark sang a song for Margarete who is being transferred in two weeks, then for me, and then the two of us did a duet of the Les Miserables song I rewrote (with assistance from Margarete) for the staff. It's rather incendiary about budget cuts to the library and the staff in particular. Everyone loved it--staff and Friends of the Library alike are extremely unhappy about the cuts.

Then we ate some more. I got lovely separate cards from Michelle, a children's librarian from another branch who was my mentor when I started, and from one of my favorite volunteers, Susan, a retired art teacher who helps with our infant & toddler storytimes. (She drew pictures of the bells and scarves we use at infant/toddler storytime on her card). There was much sadness on all sides seeing me go. One of my favorite teen volunteers was there with his mom--they've been regular patrons since he was a baby, and mom regularly brings us homemade goodies. So sweet of them to come--I'm glad it was the day after school ended so they could come as well as Josh!

It's awful leaving, but somehow a bit easier because I know people care about me and will miss me. And they keep insisting I have to keep in touch and visit.

I felt so loved.