I came downstairs one morning to find that my son Sean had created this heart-shaped circle of origami cranes.
So there’s a little news… dates set for the publication of my next book as well as the 10th anniversary edition of SHE’S NOT THERE. Some family journal entries. And a calendar of spring travel. Heavens, as Dorothy liked to say. How people come and go here. (The origami heart-shaped circle of cranes I post in as illustration here was made by my son Sean, who stayed up late one night making birds from paper. And demonstrating his own coolness, and the wonder of the world.)
First off, next week kicks off a month or two of travel. Some of these events are open to the public.
On March 15, I’ll be speaking to a large consortium of private school students in the Philadelphia area– students from (I think) Haverford, Episcopal, Penn Charter, Agnes Irwin, Baldwin, Shipley. This will sort of be an “encore performance” of the talk I gave in December 2010 at Haverford, my alma mater. That event was life changing and wonderful, so I’m hoping this one is not a comedown. The event itself will be at the Penn Charter School, with two talks– the first to the students at 10 AM, the second to teachers, at 4.
That weekend, I’ll be going to the beach house in New Jersey I used to go to with my high school friends, and lo and behold, I’m retreating there once more with the same group of men, now aged 53. “There are places I’ll remember, all my life, though some have changed.”
Following week will see me in New York City for GLAAD media awards gala on Saturday March 24. I will be hosting a table. If you’d like to join me, please send me an email.
The week after that, April 4, I will journey to Grinnell, Iowa, for a reading. Schedule there is still emerging, but I’ll be the guest of the English Department, and will give a talk as well as sitting in some classes.
It is possible I will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the week after that, although that’s still in flux, so stay tuned.
That’s it for travel except for the second GLAAD gala, which will be in San Francisco on the weekend of June 2nd– so if you’re West Coast based, prepare for me to ask you for your support.
Next up: pub dates have been set for my 2013 books. Looks like May of that year, in time for Mother’s Day to support my book on parenting– and on the differences between motherhood and fatherhood– STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU: PARENTHOOD IN THREE GENDERS. That will also be the date for the publication of the expanded 10th anniversary edition of SHE’S NOT THERE, which includes a new preface, a new last chapter (bringing the story up to date), and a new epilogue written by my wife Deedie (called Grace in the book). Looking forward to all of that, and what will probably be a vigorous promotion and touring schedule all around it.
Finally, the future looms in all kinds of ways up here in Maine. For one thing, my older son has been accepted E.D. to Vassar College, which is amazing. He’s in Spain this week, doing an intensive language course in Madrid (and seeing the sights). Brother Sean departs for three months as an exchange student in Capetown South Africa by April third. By the time he gets back, Zach will be off for his summer as a camp counsellor. So the whole family won’t really be all together again until August– and then, just fleetingly, as we’ll be preparing to send Zach off to college shortly thereafter.
In order to celebrate and note that, we are intending to climb Maine’s Mt. Katahdin together in late August. And look all around at the broad world.
Last weekend, I made pizza on a Saturday night. Deedie and I had martinis, and we all watched Harrison Ford in Witness on TV. It was nothing special, just a fun Saturday night with my boys, my family, all of us together. But it occured to me that such days are not endless. In fact the days of this version of our family now begin to seem short.
We raised our boys to leave us– that’s the whole point, isn’t it? But it’s a moment worth noting. I love them all so much.
Came back from playing in a rock and roll band in a bar late last night, stood there in the driveway looking up at the early spring sky. Four stars in a row, on either side of the setting moon.
What is this world? What is this life?
