Aftershock

I've never enjoyed masses of people. They frighten me. Not terribly--not to the point of anxiety attacks or nervous breakdowns. They are simply unnerving.

Every month at the Library we have an Afterhours program, where teens 11 - 18 (because that is the age the Young Adult department caters to) have a chance to do open mic in front of a small group of people. It's usually nice and quiet and intimate.

Our program collided with a program of a nearby Middle School's dance, and instead of having NO ONE show up, EVERYBODY showed up.

All in all, at the end of the night, we had 45 children, barely enough chairs, and a couple of parents that decided to hang out.

The police cop, Robin, and I kept saying "Okay, this is it. No more, no more." The group was large enough to be a fire hazard. It was tightly congested, we didn't have enough snacks for the crowd, and children kept wandering about.

The more kids that came, the more we all realized we couldn't leave them outside. Parents had dropped some off; some had walked from their respective school program to us. We just kept on letting them come in.

Folks were arriving 45 minutes well after we had started! I have never seen such a high turnout of kids for Afterhours. Mary Jean informed me that she had not either.

I think it is great when kids show up to our programs; it means that we have the support of the public to continue our programs and that means the Library will continue to support our programs. But if there is such a consistently high turnout every time, I might have a heart attack. My nerves can't afford to deal with the masses.