Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Bitten by the Book Bug

My dancing days may be over, not that I ever really knew how to dance. Every bone in my body aches. I’d give anything to be able to read and write all day until my achey-breaky body is better, but Santa’s sleigh is pulling out in two days, and I have to help load it. While batches of macaroons bake, I take aching bones breaks. This is when I make phone calls arranging visits with Louisiana friends and check emails.

My first friend call was to Karen and Mickey. Mickey was one of Richard’s partners, and we’ve so enjoyed their family’s reaction to our Christmas boxes over the years that we’ve continued the tradition of “the box” for over a decade. Two of their children are now adults, but we hope they’ll never outgrow the wonder of Dr. Dick’s Christmas gift.

Karen had me screaming with laughter, as usual, over the trials of motherhood when your husband works seventy hours a week and you have four kids. The latest is that Karen is undergoing rehabilitation therapy post-surgery for a shoulder injury. She recently found out that her ten-year-old daughter’s school has been learning about drug abuse, and that they’re now all praying for Madeline’s mother Karen, who is in “rehab.”

We try to see Louie and Janie when we go to Louisiana. Louie, with Elaine’s help, literally saved Richard’s life when Richard had the “big one.” And Janie brought me deodorant and a hairbrush at the hospital. Could you have a deeper bond than that? Even though Louie is Jewish, we began giving him Christmas macaroons years ago. To say that Louie loves our macaroons is quite the understatement. When I called with the news that the macaroons are on their way to town, Janie jumped at our offer to take them to dinner in New Orleans.

All of this is good news, but the most excitement I felt was about my niece Nikki. We’ve been in an informal book “group” for years, trading books back and forth. Nikki devours books and teachers English to eighth graders. She knows I’ve started publishing a blog and that I published Jack’s book. She’s now planning to start a group writing project with her class. This should reap some publishable stuff. But, even more exciting, Nikki has started writing her own book. As soon as the holidays are over, I know how I’ll be spending my time.

Jack already has enough material for another book. My friend Susan has promised to pick up where she left off on the book she started when we both lived in Louisiana, if I continue the book I started back then. Kathleen is blogging, as is her mother Gayle; I hope these blogs will become books. Sherry has been blogging about her Down’s Syndrome son – a book in the making that I hope to help publish. And now, Nikki is providing me with her prose.

I may never have to look out of the window when the weather gets really dreary. I’ll be too busy staring at my computer screen.