Things I Want to Remember

I did my first podcast interview, with Zibby Owens, on the occasion of the release of On Being 40(ish).  Zibby asked about the impetus for starting this blog, waaayyy back in September 2006.  And my answer then reminds me of how I feel about this week: I told Zibby I started this blog to remember Grace and Whit, who were 1 and 3 when I began writing.  I already could sense that I couldn’t be able to recall every (or even most) detail.

That’s how I feel right now.  I want to remember what this week, since the release of On Being 40(ish), has felt like. While the book’s release has taken a backseat to my “real life,” and to my day job, it has been unquestionably, marvelously fun.  I think my single favorite thing over the last week is the texts I’ve gotten from friends with pictures of their books, or themselves with their books.  It feels so great to know that the essays I’ve so long loved are out in the world, and that people are reading them.

The events – in Brooklyn last week and in Cambridge last night – have been wonderful as well.  It’s a treat to meet the writers in person – I had never met any of them in person before, though we’ve certainly emailed.  They have universally impressed me by being as intelligent, wise, and down-to-earth in person as they are on the page (in my experience this is often, though not always, the case when I meet writers whose work I have read and enjoyed).

It’s also been incredible to hear from people as they read the book, and to read reviews, and to generally know that the pieces in On Being 40(ish) are touching people. Lesson for me: always be sure to tell writers when their words resonate with me (I often do, but not always).

Most of all, it’s those texts, though.