How lucky I am that I've been a part of this amazing group for....
.....TWENTY-FIVE years!!!
We've been through life's ups and downs...
...publishing/writing/illustrating ups and downs...
We've laughed and cried and offered sage advice and warm hugs and honest words and kind looks and finger wags and encouraging words and all those things one needs in life.
We've been serious and silly and sad together.
They let me bring my timer (tick tick tick) and loved me, the gentle dictator, anyway.
Yesterday was my last (sniff, sniff) meeting with them before my move.
They gave me a gift certificate to White Flower Farm, so I can "enjoy these new blossoms as a token of our love and appreciation." (Waaaaah)
They gave me these great garden ornaments:
And this adorable dog:
And this amazing framed photo that I will cherish forever (On the background is printed all of the books we have critiqued together. So cool!)
So, I've been pretty absent from this blog lately.
But there's been a lot going on.
Because, well.....this....
After 26 years in New England, my husband and I are heading back to my beloved South....right there at the edge of the Smoky Mountains, my heart's home.
Specifically, to Asheville, North Carolina...one of the most beautiful and coolest places ever.
So happy.
But.....
Sigh....
So hard to say goodbye to things and places and PEOPLE I love dearly.
Starting with my house.
My son grew up here.
We have 26 years worth of amazing memories.
My husband's hippie carpenter friend came out from Arizona to help us build our screened porch:
Where we spent so many magical summer nights:
We built a swimming pool:
My son on the right
Which brought us lots of happy times:
With my dearest pal, Gucci, who shared almost daily walks and talks with me. (And sewed for me and picked me up when I wrecked my cars and was always there for me and on and on and on. BFFs forever.)
Ruby
In the cement beside the pool
There is still chewed woodwork in our house caused by puppies who grew into gray-faced old dogs.
Murphy, the first puppy we brought to this house. (She lived to be 14) Son on the left.
There are guinea pigs buried in the
backyard, where neighborhood children held somber-faced funerals and
left wilted clover flowers.
My son brought a chestnut home from the cemetery beside our church when he was very small. It was in a paper cup. We said he could plant it anywhere he wanted to, never dreaming it would become this beauty:
This is the gate between my yard and my neighbor's, who is also the dearest of friends one could ever want. That friend who GETS me. On countless summer nights, she came through that gate to dance to disco music with me under the moonlight or listen to owls in the Adirondack chairs in the yard (snuggled together under a quilt like little girls instead of grown women), or laugh and cry and gossip on the porch. (Because that's what you do with your besties.) Pool Girl, you know I love you.
A gift she gave me. Perfect
So, yeah, lots of memories in that house
I'll miss my gardens.
I'll miss my summer writing office:
So on this Things I Love Thursday, I'm loving my house.
And loving my dear, dear friends here, including:
Janet Zade (left), so wise and honest and punctual (three of the greatest traits of a friend, I think.) How lucky am I? Thank you, Janet.
My writers' group (There is no greater treasure for a writer than a group like this. We've been up, down, and all around together.)
BUT I'm looking forward to making new friends and building memories in a new house in a new place. Turning the page. New chapter.
So, by the way, school teachers and librarians of the Carolinas, I'll be ready to come to YOUR school this fall. (I know, buzz kill, right?) And, now, I'll close with a song that makes me cry Every Single Time
Notice Owen on top of the motorhome saying, "Swear swear." This one came with a letter that said, "My favorite part was when Popeye and Elvis were spitting and swearing into the ditch because when Mrs. M read that part, I burst out into laughter because I did not expect it to happen."
This one was signed by Hudson, Jack and Luke and included, "P.S. Hudson is one of seven rowdy kids."
And of course I love this one because she says, "It is the best book in the world!"
Fourth grade teacher, Saul Ruiz, at Carver Academy Elementary in
Amarillo, Texas, organized a wonderful project with his students after reading How to Steal a Dog.
"You have inspired us to take our eyes off ourselves and realize that someone else always has it worse than we do," Mr. Ruiz told me.
"We are teaming up with a local homeless shelter for mothers and their children. We are making 'After Dinner Bags' for the kids who show up to these shelters. Just like Georgina, they sometimes just arrive with a plastic bag full of only a few of their belongings. We are making bags full of snacks and activities for children to do after dinner…the most boring part of the night for kids at the shelter."
How great is that?!
And I love that they are calling this wonderful activity Project Georgina in honor of the main character.
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