The Guest Blogger on Training and Thanksgiving

This morning I very reluctantly went to more of my incredibly boring extended training class. This is a 90 hour class that the State of Maryland says I need to have in order to be eligible for their pension program. I think it's just their way of quality control for para-professionals.

I didn't want to go to this training.

Not one bit.

I sort of felt like the other guy in Green Eggs and Ham, you know, the unnamed guy trying to explain to Sam I Am that he doesn't like Green Eggs and Ham, but in the end he actually likes it? Yeah, that guy? Well, I ended up like him today.

I was dragging myself kicking and screaming to the training this morning, dreading hours and hours of sitting and listening to library professionals tell us stuff we already know. I was more than pleasantly surprised. Instead of hours of lectures, we were lead on a crazy tour of the 6 stories of restricted areas, stacks and stacks and stacks of books, and a little hidden indoor children's garden. By 1:00, none of us knew where we were anymore, but no one cared. It was like our guide handed out a bunch of candy, we were so hyper and excited about being librarians.

The afternoon was even better. I won't bore you non-library folk with the details (because to librarians, this was incredibly awesome, to the rest of the world it would be one of the reasons not to be involved with the library profession.) Let's just say that 60 very happy Library Associates left the Enoch Pratt Library this afternoon.

This is basically also how my Thanksgiving went. I was pleasantly surprised by a good afternoon that, to be honest (and not to hurt people's feelings), I was kind of dreading.

I love my family. I love being around them.

Sometimes, I'm not terribly fond of their family.

I have had several incredibly negative run-ins with my uncle's in-laws. Until Thursday, I had never spent an outing with them where they didn't insult, injure or belittle me. This is not to say that there weren't moments of rudeness on Thursday. (I think it just must be the difference in our upbringings or something, in some ways, they probably find me quite rude.) But they were also very interested in my boyfriend. He was the reason I had a good time this Thanksgiving. He enjoyed the conversation he had with my uncle's in-laws. I don't think that he did this intentionally, but he also allowed my cousins and I time to talk to each other.

This year, I am thankful for pleasant surprises. I am thankful for Mackenzie's list of why Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday (and I agree with him 100%). I am thankful for my family. And I am thankful for my boyfriend. I am also thankful to Mackenzie for encouraging me to blog here from time to time.