Tidbits #2
An award, the Thanksgiving holiday, teaching woes, street parking and more!
I’m always intimidated by awards ceremonies. Everyone dresses up and there’s so much small talk and for whatever reason, I have a really difficult time hearing when there is a loud din in the background, and if I’m somehow involved, there’s the red carpet and an excess of flash photography. It’s a lot. But, it’s also cool to be nominated or feted. I don’t write to win awards, that would be a fool’s errand at best, but it is absolutely gratifying when your work is honored by your peers as worthy of recognition. I am not cool enough to pretend otherwise. Anyway, I recently won a “lifetime achievement” National Book Award. (I’m too young for a lifetime of achievement but I did get a very cool medal.) I also had to give a speech. My dad and Debbie (and some other family) came and he can certainly work a red carpet. Look at him striking a pose! My mom would have loved this.
Words cannot express how much I miss my mother. Every book I write from this year on, she will never read. Every achievement, she won’t know about. But more importantly, every day I live, for the rest of my life, will be one where I won’t hear her voice or her laugh. I won’t enjoy the abrupt way she ended long phone calls with, “Okay goodbye,” because she had nothing else to say. I won’t be able to share funny things only she would understand. I won’t be able to tell her how right she was about so many things we spoke about. I am a broken record with these laments but… I miss my mom.
[Behind the paywall, teacher talk, my Thanksgiving menu, a cute picture of baby feet, a book giveaway and more.]