picture books and ponderings

Well, this is it. My last eight weeks have been spent at a publishing company in the congestive heart of New York City, and though some days inched along, I'm already done. That's kind of crazy. Looking back now, the excitement I had going into the job (which, if I am to be totally honest, grew stale at some points during the job) has magically reappeared. Because if you think about it, it was an environment I naturally love: books, books, and MORE books! I get to organize books alphabetically (something I obsessively do with my own library), look at fresh-from-the-designer book covers, read books at random, take home books for FREE! (Especially HARDCOVER books that cost anywhere from $14.99 to $24.95)

And granted, I suppose if I had worked in the adult division of an even bigger/more popular company, I might have ended up with some really nice titles for myself. But I am rather pleased with the spoils of my toil — 6 lovely picture books that I have prematurely become very excited about reading to my future child(ren). In fact, I am so glad that halfway through my internship, I decided that I had no use for the chapter books I had been collecting on my work shelves (you know, now that my brother is going to be a high school sophomore, and even my mom's friends' kids have grown up to be past the age of those books' reading levels). I started picking up random picture books here and there for fun (again, in strange, uncharacteristic preparation for my future bedtime story times), and I found that their colorful pages contained a lot more wisdom and encouragement and just straight up morality than the teen books that graced a lot of our department's bookshelves. [side rant: I don't get it — why is it we feed violence, psychological issues, sex (implicit and explicit), profanity to teenagers (who are technically still developing mentally/intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually - for some - in addition to physically)? Apparently to spark reluctant youth readers into reading at least something...even if it's garbage.]

I'm a bit sad that I wasn't able to pick up some more picture books before leaving, because I am truly enthralled with how much some authors can pack into so few words, and how the perfect illustrations can really bring even those few words to life. I am currently reading "A Visit From The Goon Squad" (yes, the NYTimes bestseller/Pulitzer Prize winner that everyone seems to be reading on the subway these days) by Jennifer Egan, and I am very much loving it, and yet, while this book makes me thoughtfully consider the brokenness of human beings and the success/"love"/happiness that sometimes eludes them (and inspires me to keep writing along my own broken melodramas), a picture book like "I Don't Want To Be A Pea" (which just makes me DIE every time I look at it because it's so cute and I loveloveloveLOVE it) teaches me that being a loving friend means considering others better than myself (not in a self-deprecating way, ie., I'm thinking more Philippians humility style) and appreciating one another's company so that when we are without it, we miss it.

There are a lot of insights that I've gained through this 8-week work experience in New York — the one city I have always dreamed of living&working in — and perhaps I shall share with people on a one-to-one basis, but as I move forward into this 3-month marathon which, frankly, terrifies me on some levels, I am encouraged by another picture book that I am very glad I was able to stumble upon:

Hey! What's the hurry, anyhow?

There are PLACES TO GET TO!

And PROJECTS TO DO!

PEOPLE TO TALK WITH, and LUNCHES TO CHEW!

But stopping a while is okay, too.

And whatever you do—

now or later,

big or small,

loud or quiet—

whatever you do,

don't worry.

Just try it.

Whatever you do,

whether near or so far,

I know you'll be great.

You already are.