It’s a fact. I have an unhealthy relationship with my community library. I love it, with every ounce of my being. I can spend all day inside it’s loving arms.

Before I had kids, I would go there and spend hours. I would open up books, read a little bit and either slide them back into place, annoyed, or I would excitedly add them to my stack of take-homes. Back then I would read biographies such as Madam Secretary: A Biography of Madeleine Albright*, or historical fiction, such as The Queens Fool by Philippa  Gregory. I read books about Wal-Mart, and it’s effect on the global economy; I read books about the future of food; I read books on web design – whatever tooted my horn at that moment. But the most life altering book I got a hold of was called Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health, by Toni Weschler. This book started what is now a long distance relationship with my library.

With the knowledge I gained from this book, I was able to become pregnant after suffering my first miscarriage. Sure, I endured several more after that but this book taught me the realities of the ordeal and kept me on track. It changed my life.

Now I have two kids. Instead of spending hours at the library, I spend minutes reserving books so that some nice librarian can place them in a single spot for me to swoop up and check out in a flash – with or without my kids. Instead of biographies about political figures or sappy romance novels, I pick books about child development, brain games and nutrition.

I love that when I come upon a subject that I am only mildly curious about, I can jump on my library’s website, find and reserve a book, whenever I want to. Some might call me a nerd for this, but I prefer to be labeled as an informed mother who wants to do the best for her kids.

Just for grins, here’s a list of books that I currently have checked out from the library:

1. Absolutely Organized: A Mom’s Guide to a No-Stress Schedule and Clutter-Free Home, by Debbie Lillard
2.  Frozen Assets Lite and Easy: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month, by Deborah Taylor-Hough
3. The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet, by Karin Knight, R.N., and Tina Ruggiero, M.S., R.D., L.D.
4. Starting Solids: The essential guide to your baby’s first foods, by Annabel Karmel
5. No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog, by Margaret Mason
6. WordPress Web Design for Dummies,by Lisa Sabin-Wilson

…and I’ve got a couple more just waiting for me to scoop them up. If this makes me a nerd then hand me the pocket protector and retractable pens, please.

Word.

*As a side note, this book introduced me to the name “Adlai”, as in Adlai Stevenson, for whom Albright volunteered during his presidential candidacy during the 1950′s. I thought it was pronounced Ad-a-LEYE (rhyming with “eye” at the end), and loved the name so much that it went on my girl’s baby name list. It’s actually pronounced Ad-a-lay. Now you know.