I recently ordered new books from Amazon (one of my favorite sites, right behind Walmart).  I figure if I do not have time to squeeze in summer reading, I will at least have them when inclement weather rolls around.  Curling up with a biography after the kids are in bed ranks right up there with me.  As I removed the books from the boxes, my thoughts returned to many years ago, when I was a child.

Saturday morning was our library day.  My dad would drop me, my sister and brother at the library while he and my mom did the weekly grocery shopping.  We would walk into the library to not only be greeted by all of the new selections, but by the cheery children's librarian.  She sometimes had recommendations for us, hand-picked books, but many times, we browsed the children's section and picked our own.  If the weather was pleasant, we would take our newly borrowed books and sit outside on the wall and read while we waited for our parents.  Saturday morning in Main Street America.

I no longer live in my hometown so I keep up with the happenings by reading the online newspaper.  My heart sank one day as I read an article about that same library we used to visit.  Children were no longer allowed in the library unsupervised due to a child predator who had approached a child in the library.  I could not imagine that the friendly space where we had spent so much time as children had been, in essence, tainted.  Anger and sadness ran through me. 

Times were different in the 1970's, as opposed to today.  Faces were a bit softer and welcoming, not everyone was treated as a potential threat.  I have taught my children about strangers and what to do in the event they are approached, something my parents did not do in our small hometown.  Where did the innocence go?  What changed? 

When we venture out, the kids are armed with their library books, mommy's cell phone number and name memorized and in their pockets in the event we are separated and their address written on their arms in markers.  Boy, have times changed.