Turning The Page

How the back-breaking job of packing and moving books became a noble pleasure.

The RMLL has been fueled by the best energies of many volunteers beyond this devoted couple. The Tattered Cover has donated shelves, volunteers crated more than 1,000 boxes of books, and Acme Distribution has offered to transport and warehouse the books free of charge until the RMLL has its site. The next step is to find a home for the kids’ nature library, and after that, for the Urban Homestead Learning Center for inner-city Denver. “We are literally packed up,” Jeff says, “and ready to move on to the Land Library’s next stage.”

In the end, I worked until my arm muscles were sore, then called it quits for the day. I’d had the perfect weekend: a stay at Castle Marne, the cutest bed and breakfast ever; a workshop at Lighthouse Writers, my favorite local writing program; a day at the Tattered Cover, the best bookstore in the universe; and one afternoon of packing up books for a good cause. As I taped shut the last box of my volunteer day, I realized something: Even though the task is something we’re all familiar with, in this particular case, it’s a methodical labor of love, much like exploring and learning about nature itself. That’s what makes this unique set of books—and the noble effort to preserve them—such a treasure.