It’s been really nice having Mark work from home this week. We’ve eaten lunch together every day, he’s had more time to play with Menininho, and we’ve been able to make a quick trip here or there as a family. Yesterday, our trip was to the Milpitas library!

I’ve been craving some non-baby related reading as of late, and Mark being home to help with Menininho was the perfect opportunity to check out the library. You see, I know at some point I am going to be rejoining the work force, and part of me is afraid that when I do, I will not only have lost all connection to my field (public health) but also the ability to carry on an adult conversation. So, thanks to a conversation on healthcare reform with my friend Fi over Facebook, I decided to start reading the New York Times Healthcare section to Menininho.

(I know you are wondering what this has to do with the library, but bare with me.)

Last week was also Match Day, when all the 4th year med students find out where they will be spending their residency. Having just left a ward full of med students, I was very excited to hear where everyone was matched to. The NYT also did a big piece on Match Day, and it was in the main article that I read about the book Match Day by Brian Eule. I decided I had to read it because the whole idea of the Match Process and the psychological implications of it are interesting to me.

Anyway, I needed to go to the library to get a card so I could put out a request for the book. Since this was Menininho’s first trip to a library, I felt the need to bring along the camera.

From the outside, the library is so large it looks like it could *almost* rival Columbus Metropolitan Library. In fact, they even have a firetruck on display.

Inside however…well…there is a lot of empty space. I’m hoping this means they are planning on adding to their collections.  There was an OK sized healthcare section. I checked out The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, by Anne Fadiman, and Ana’s Story, by Jenna Bush (the latter of which I’ve already finished and have to say I was not particularly impressed by, though it wasn’t bad).

Anyway, we had a great time at the library and can’t wait to go back and get more books! I hope that we can instill in Menininho a love of reading, too.