Up in the air!!!
I’m on a plane right now, flying to St Louis, for a Baxter & Half/Life event. Expecting to have an interesting afternoon because this is a new sort of gig for me. I’ll be reading to kids, and then talking to grownups too, about intermarriage/December conundrums. And there’s music to boot! Yes, I expect it will be awesome…
But the reason it will be most awesome is that today is my LAST reading/event of the fall.
Tonight, when I stumble in the door, bleary-eyed, I’ll be home for good. Or at least for a few months. I’m happy about that. I can’t tell you how happy…
This fall has been amazing. And soon, once I’ve caught up with my stack of work-to-do, I’ll post about all the adventures I’ve had. But most of all, this fall has been an educational experience for me.
It turns out that flying around the country and sleeping in hotels and eating out all the time… is not so glamorous at all. I’ve loved meeting all the kids, and bookstore people, and teachers, and parents, and the JCCs I’ve visited have been wonderful hots, and the friends I’ve seen… it’s been a joy. I’ve loved sharing my books with so many people. I’ve been honored by interviews and reviews.
But I’m a mom and a writer. So really, I only want to parent and write. I have an outline for a new book I need to begin thinking about, a companion to BIGGER THAN A BREADBOX. I have sketches I need to look at, for a new picture book called GOOD NIGHT, LAILA TOV. I have edits I need to read, so I can revise another picture book, WALK TO THE WIDE SKY… I have poems I need to revise and order. Indeed, I have tons of exciting things to be working on.
But mostly, I miss the daily work of my home and kids. I want to light a fire, read some books with Lewis and Mose. I want to bake some brownies. I want to take the boys to Holy Taco for chicken soup. I want to do all the things I haven’t been able to make time for. The regular stuff.
Mose said to me, as I left the house at 6 am, in the dark, “See you tonight Mom. After the candles gleam and glow.”
I don’t like missing the candles.
December 6th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
“After the candles gleam and glow.” oh that would have made me tear up. I traveled when Ryan & Hannah were little (in my former life as a print production manager)- and while sometimes it was nice to sleep all night without interrruption in a hotel and eat a meal I didn’t have to make with 2 toddlers at my feet, I did miss the normal – it was one of the reasons why I stayed home when James was born and then went back to school to work as a librarian in a school, where I wouldn’t have to travel much.
Glad you are home for awhile!!