Certain dates stick in my head because of things that are to be done on that day. This is before the fact.

After, the dates become immaterial. December 16th, an easy date to remember because it is after December 15, which is the middle of the month. December 16th – easy date to remember, a good thing, the date of the second Bright Lights Book Project Open House.

There were many things to do prior to this date/event, including letting people know that we were holding this event in conjunction with an employee appreciation get together. I had to hustle last week, getting the shelves in order and cleaning, stamping, and categorizing fiction and nonfiction books.

Pete applied for and got a $250.00 Sponsorship from the Health Foundation for catered deserts; he also picked up a coffee maker. Kaladi Brothers donated coffee and free drink gift cards.

I publicized the event on Big Cabbage Radio and put up signage. As of yesterday evening, I thought we were ready.

I was amiss. I got to the former banquet room of the Eagle Hotel, and seconds after I walked in the door, a woman knocks and says that she has a carload of books. I move my car, and she parks her car where mine was. I get the cart and tell her that she’s going to need to put the books on the cart because I don’t want to hurt my back. She has big boxes. I pull a load in and head back out the door.

Bill arrives – I had to plead with him to come in today. He of course was a big help. We reboxed the 20 odd boxes of books into Banker boxes so that in the next few days volunteers can clean, sort, stamp, and categorize them. We then put them in the overflow room. This is what I am going to call it.

Then I began setting up for the event – I set up an author’s table, a kids’ table, a fiction and nonfiction table, and a food table. Pete appeared with the food, and he and Bill worked on recategorizing the nonfiction shelves.

And then they came – first our old friend Gene and then many, many other friends and book lovers. The big draw was the food. A handful of teenagers who made signage for us arrived with their keeper in tow. The co-manager of Big Cabbage Radio put in an appearance, as did a political representative. Our chief benefactor at the Mat-Su Health Foundation came and took a 5-volume set of Proust books. And a woman who attends my reading group appeared on the scene, as did the head of this group. And there were others.

There were a lot of people, but not too many people. And definitely not too few people.

After everyone left, Pete and Pam and I put the remaining food away and put away books. Pete and I then went and distributed books.

I don’t have any events coming up, so as far as events go, my mind is now a blank.

Next: 345. 12/17/23: Shovel, Baby, Shovel