So I just took 13 books out from the library—

four reserved ahead online, lined up tidy on the Holds shelf—

and the other nine, well, wandered into if not stumbled upon.

You don’t need to know any of the titles

(or, really, that my sixth-grade reading textbook

was called “Serendipity” )

but what I do want to tell you is that

as I walked out into the sunny spring-green afternoon (yes, the Crayola color is real)

and the breeze lifted my hair and my heart

I knew that a book, especially a library book, is an offering and a gift

in a way that no social media post ever was

or ever can be.