Founder's Syndrome

My Library group (including me) is suffering from Founder's Syndrome. Those of us who have been there since the beginning of our grassroots effort to make a library happen in our community are having to hand it off to others. And it's hard.

It's hard to see that a whole new group is taking over and depending less and less on our knowledge and experience - even though we know it's time to expand our vision. The new people don't know anything about how we got here and they seem adverse to learning from our mistakes, making them over and over.

However, I'm ready to step back. The new phase of the library is going to involve getting people who know people who can give lots of money to build the new facility - not just us worker bees who sort and shelve the books and hold book sales. We're talking about people who can raise millions of dollars. It won't be perfect, but I have faith that they can get the job done.

There are some of us, however, who can't accept the transition from day to day leadership to a more auxiliary role and are complaining to everyone within earshot that the "letter was too long" "the membership categories were not complete" "the mailing was late" etc, etc. But you know, someone else did it, and we didn't have to.

Our whole effort has been made up as we go along - we could step in and do an event, mailing, program, grant request at the last minute and so far, we're still reacting, rather than acting. But I think this will change as the new group goes forward.

Will they do everything perfectly? Probably not. Would they be smart to listen to the old folks? Probably. Will the Library survive and prosper? I have every hope.

New Car

I just heard about Meg locking herself in the car (she's fine, thank goodness! And Katherine may recover soon.) and I just have to brag about my new car. Here are the things I wanted:

(1) adjustable pedals (my short legs meant that in my Tahoe I was pretty close to the steering wheel. If I were in a wreck, the air bag would probably do some major damage. In my new car, the adjustable pedals mean I'm a little farther away from the wheel.

2. power rear lift gate. Hauling that rear gate in the Tahoe was something I knew I would outgrow. I love punching the fob button and the gate lifts while I'm walking up with my basket from Sam's or Home Depot.

3. power third row. I didn't use the third row in my old car very much. I think we removed the seats when I brought the car home and put them in once, when we had family in town. Each seat weighed about 80 pounds and the installation and removal were hard to do. The power seats mean that I can push a button and raise up one or both of the third row seats.

4. seats fold flat. In the Tahoe, I could fold up the second row, but the third row stood up about 12 inches - meaning that I would have to get in the back area and lift up anything big to go over the seats. In the new car, the folded seats lie flat so things can slide up to the back of the front seats. A caveat is that there is a channel between the folded flat third row and the folded flat second row, but it can be overcome easily.

A bonus is that the car has a locking system that can rescue me if I lock the keys inside or if I just need to put something inside without using the keys. It has a five digit code that unlocks the passenger door with an additional code for the rest of the car. When the total code is in, I can open the back hatch. All without a key!

Also, the car is big, sits up high and small cars fear me.

It's a Ford Expedition. After two Suburbans and two Tahoes, I'm sold on Ford.