March 26, 2010- Tonight is important to me. My daughter Emma and I will do a joint reading together at Red Fox Books in Glens Falls, and it is special to think of the two of us reading from our new books together in the same place. It’s a rare thing. The only time I’ve heard of it was John Cheever and his daughter Susan, and that’s lofty company.
It brings up a lot of feelings. When Emma was young and I drove the carpool. Our years together as a family. The divorce, which shook up all of our worlds, including Emma’s. How we worked through it all and are committed to one another and love each other. I am proud of her. It is not easy to live in New York City these days, and get a book contract, and write such a good one.
I’m proud of me, too, for having helped raise such a good person, who has so many friends who love her so dearly. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. It is good to have Pearl her, as well. Pearl is in the Lenore tradition of dogs, or vice versa, generous and loving. And Frieda is more or less behaving, and hasn’t killed or maimed anything.
I’m looking forward also to reading from “Rose In A Storm,” a book I’m proud of, and which Emma helped me edit during the darkest days of the divorce, when my head was spinning and my life seemed dark and empty. But mostly, I want to soak up some of Emma’s light. She deserves it, and I am glad she is here. She is a city person, through and through. And has a father who ran off in a farm.
Life is strange.
