It's late in the afternoon on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. The weather outside is warm and sunny. I'm having trouble concentrating, and looking forward to three days of leisure (well, if you consider serious yard work leisure).
I'm also feeling antsy. This happens every year in the late summer, when the morning and evening air has a distinct crispness to it, even on hot days. It means fall is coming. And, for years, that meant a new school year was coming.
I've been out of school for a heck of a long time, don't work for an academic library, have no children, and my youngest nephew is in college. Yet this time of year still brings on a slightly nervous, slightly anticipatory feeling; a combination of being afraid you won't like your new teacher (or vice versa) and excitement about wearing your new school shoes for the first time.
I think it's good that the passage and time and changes in the seasons effect us in more than intellectual ways. It's nice to feel, in addition to knowing, things.
In libraries, we know a lot of stuff. And we also know our jobs make a difference in people's lives, now and in the future. It's just as important to feel that, too; to have the deep conviction that what we do matters.
It's almost as good as new school shoes.
