Stacking goodness

Today was a day in Newark, the city where I worked my first job out of college. On the way there, I saw some poetry on the subway (I love that subway art program) that I fell in love with because it involved rain (it was raining this morning) and "feral," which I had been contemplating this morning as well. I ordered the book tonight. I had lunch with an old co-worker and mentor, which was such a treat. We talked about expectations of girls and women and the mindset required to survive in the workforce, among other things, and I got re-energized because she is so intelligent and kind and always gives excellent advice.

Then I headed over to the Newark Public Library to visit Special Collections (the blurry photo was when I was wandering the stacks) and had a wonderful time looking at books and books and more books. Jared, the curator, told me about the dire state of affairs there, which I noticed right away when I walked in and saw signs saying that, due to budget cuts, the library could NOT buy any new books. WHAT?! That was a big strike against Mayor Booker, the library budget slashing, which was sad to hear but impossible to deny. I felt like I had stepped out of a time machine. But I'm still too heady right now after seeing the swooning masses who absolutely love Bill Clinton to talk about the sorry state of the library. All of that was forgotten when Jared pulled all sorts of goodies for me to look at. I had expected to be there for an hour and then visit the museum down the street, but I was there for hours and will return next month. They have all of Dard Hunter's books! I got to see the Chinese Ceremonial Paper one today.

He looked at my books, too, and it was great to get asked some questions that I've been posing to myself for a long time but not always hearing from other people. Afterwards, I was relieved that the threat of rain had passed and I could walk over to meet another old co-worker for dinner. She is in an interim top spot at my old workplace and I couldn't be happier for her. I loved seeing how good she has gotten with the work/life balance, and I was reminded of what a great listener she is because she remembers things. From YEARS ago.

When I got on the first of three or four trains to get home, I got my last bit of goodness for the day: my publisher sent back the final set of proofs and the news that we may get this book done on time after all (!!!). But what really made me smile was that the copy editor said she had enjoyed the book and said it was well written. A copy editor said that!

So today was great. Friends and books. Plus, books are friends, too.