I haven’t been out a whole lot since mid-March. I’ve done a few small family gatherings, ordered for curbside from local businesses, and volunteered for the Master Gardener program, but things like getting a haircut or eating at a restaurant just haven’t been a priority.

My bangs are to the point where they touch the top of my mask, but I’ll take looking like a circa-2006 pop punk boy band member over accidentally getting someone sick.

The one place I did go to on opening day, however, was Bill Library here in Ledyard. (I also thought about going to Book Barn when they opened in May, but that was the first wave of reopenings, plus Book Barn is a browsing place and this isn’t really a browsing time.)

I didn’t check out any books — a bunch of my ebook requests came in all at once, and Kindle books are only two-week leases — and I definitely went the wrong way in some of the aisles by accident, but I was just so happy to be back in the library. As I wrote my reopening story for The Day, I found it difficult not to be a total fangirl while talking to various directors about their plans.

Libraries have long been a happy place for me. During non-pandemic times, I would often walk to the library on my lunch break to stretch my legs and get out of the polar vortex air conditioning of the newsroom. I love the interlibrary loan system for getting books from other facilities. Plus they’re nice places to camp out and write; I have filed many a late story from either inside a library or mooching off the Wi-Fi out in the parking lot.

I’m not shy about my anxiety, and I think it’s safe to say that anxiety and public health emergencies don’t mix. Worrying about the health and safety of my family can be exhausting at times, and being grateful that I’m not unemployed, sick or dead is a pretty upsetting metric. And there’s only so much Stardew Valley you can play to run away from it all.

I know everyone is on a different schedule and some area libraries haven’t opened yet, but seeing them start to reopen and the level of detail staff are putting into making sure patrons are safe gives me a little hope. Besides, nothing compares to having a physical book to enjoy.

Amanda Hutchinson is the assistant community editor of The Times.