JULY 2023 BLOG POST - "A Library Is An Oasis In The Desert."

Here in Jacksonville, there's a fun little adventure you can take your kids on if you need something that will fill up a few hours and is nearly free. Parking your car in San Marco, you hop on the Sky Train (free, Mon-Fr!) take it over the river, switch trains at Central Station and get off at James Weldon Johnson Park (formerly Hemming Plaza). Just on the other side of the park is the Downtown Public Library, one of Jacksonville's best features. I've loved this library ever since I walked in its doors looking for an archived newspaper for a college history course. It's grand staircase leads you up to the second floor where, if you're with kids, you'd take a left and head back to the children's department through a wonderful little forest entryway complete with birds chirping. Kids or no kids, you should stop in the courtyard. A beautiful, peaceful retreat in the middle of the city with a fountain that runs straight down the center. If you take a second to look, you'll see a plaque on the fountain that reads "a library is an oasis in the desert". When you're done at the library, head back to the other side of the park to and delight in the sweet deliciousness that is Sweet Pete's. I've been taking my kids on this "adventure' several times a year for the last decade.

What I never could have dreamed of on that first trip is that the Downtown Public Library would become inextricably linked in my heart to this community. My kids played in the fountain today as I stood in the courtyard thinking about you. Three months from now, that courtyard will transform into a desert oasis, tables full of people laughing, eating, and actively changing the lives of foster and adoptive families in our city. Does it get any better than that?