Middletown, CT

I grew up in Middletwon, CT, so I took Jon on a little tour of my old town. Our first stop was at the waterfall just down the street from my old house.

My dad used to take lot of pictures of us in front of here when we were growing up. I remember waiting in agony for him to get the settings right so we could just be done taking pictures already. Little did I know that I would inherit his annoying photographer gene years later!



The highlight of my visit to the city was seeing my old public library. My mom used to take us here all the time and I loved exploring the place! It was fun to see where the first seeds of my career as a librarian were planted.


The adult reading room.


The youth room. The picture book shelves are such a great way for kids to browse books. I wish my library could afford to install shelves like these.


My sister, Ruth, and I hung out on this rainbow sculpture all the time!


We had a lovely lunch at this fantastic vegetarian restaurant, It's Only Natural, before heading to our next destination.

 View the rest of the photos here.

career change!

I've been quiet on this blog lately because of a big change in my life. In November, I started my first official paid(!) job as a librarian. For the first time in my post-college working career, I can say that I actually love going to work! Every day at the library is new and different and my job really keeps me on my toes. I'm surrounded by books and people all day and it's the perfect combination of interests for me.

To top it off, I got a job at my childhood library, which is the library that inspired me to become a librarian in the first place. I'm so honored to have been chosen for the position at such a great library in the area!

Three years ago around this time, I was just starting my library school journey. I stuck with my unfulfilling day job long enough to get my master's degree (debt free!) and make a career change. While the last few years at my job were grueling and stressful, I'm glad that I made a new goal for myself and accomplished what I set out to do. Yay for much needed life changes!

how don't call me becky came to be

It was a momentous day at the library today because I ran into the person who inspired the name for my blog.

Picture me back in 1990...permed hair, big purple glasses, tight rolled jeans. You get the picture. My family started going to a new optometrist's office and the doctor's assistant, Annie, welcomed me at the start of my appointment.

Annie: Hi Rebekah. Do you go by Becky?
Me: Nope, just Rebekah
Annie: Okay, Becky

She continued to call me Becky throughout the appointment and introduced me to others in the office as Becky.


The following year at the optometrist's office
New receptionist: Hi Rebekah...
Annie: Oh, she goes by Becky
New receptionist: okay Becky, right this way
New receptionist now thinks my name is Becky


and the following year...
Optometrist: Hi Rebekah, do you go by Becky?
Me: No, just Rebekah
Annie: (jumping in) She actually goes by Becky
Optometrist now thinks my name is Becky.
Unfortunately, the optometrist's office was quite large and there were four doctors and countless receptionists and assistants on staff. Annie was very insistent that everyone in the office called me Becky, no matter how hard I tried to assure people that I really did go by Rebekah.

Annie was really sweet and always helped me pick out the cutest glasses and patiently taught me how to put in contacts for the first time, but she never caught on to my correct name. It's been about ten years since I've been to that particular office, so it caught me off guard to see Annie in a different environment at the library.

She's the only person that's ever called me Becky more than once. :)