Last week our grandchildren and children were here for a visit. As the colder season and the holidays are in full swing my wife looked through local offerings for kids’ activities especially including indoors. She found a music class at our local library. We are members and visit the library at some regular cadence. It has an extensive range of audio books, borrowing these does not require an in-person visit, but can be done via their app. We still enjoy reading “real books”, and we frequently order titles that get staged for us in the Sunriver branch. This branch has just recently reopened – a new bright building with large windows, an open floorplan, reading nooks and a very friendly staff. The music class was our first opportunity to show the library to our grandkids. We discovered the children area – with shelfs after shelfs of children books, a library of things – neatly sorted into bins, play arrangements for all ages – from an animated mirror to a playhouse to a computer game and learning station. There was something for everyone. You can read there with them or take their favorite book home. Watching our grandchildren walk into this little wonderland and embracing it was heartwarming. The music class took place in a conference room. For 45 minutes we sang, played and danced with the children – all alongside our instructor and as she promised at the beginning – the example of the adults caught on with the kids very quickly. Many families attended the class and quite a few of them stayed afterwards to use the other library offers for the children. With these many things to try, we adults were soon sidelined and had time to read our own books or just watch what was happening from a distance. So, as I was watching I began to appreciate this opportunity – sponsored by the community and for sure local, state and federal funds – a heaven for learning, play and peaceful get-together; a source of a broad range of information to educate. One tends to forget the many great things that we have in our country while concerns about politics, economy and world affairs overwhelm our thinking and life. The library was a perfect place to level such concerns with a heavy positive counterweight. This is also America – excited little hands grabbing books, touching mirrors and assembling little dolls into a toy living room.