Lovely Things from March
Dear Friends,
March was approximately 5577 days long, right? I feel as though I spent the whole time reading news headlines and wringing my hands. But when I stop and reflect, there were a lot of excellent moments, too. Here’s all the good news from March:
Exciting things that happened before we quarantined the whole flipping world:
I went to the Audies! This is the annual awards ceremony for audio books. I went at the invitation of Lauren Blakely, which means I finally met her! And she is even more lovely in person than on the interwebs.
I also saw my collaborator Tanya Eby, my friend Corinne Michaels, as well as narrators Andi Arndt and Emma Wilder!
And I met Erin Mallon, Virginia Rose, Lucy Rivers, Jason Clarke, Shane East, Lili Valente and — wait for it — Teddy Hamilton! Most of these talented people were finalists. What a successful bunch. It’s intimidating, damn it.
I watched my 14yo play his violin with, oh, fifty other people in the high school strings orchestra. If you ever want to be sure that the world will BE OKAY DAMN IT go to a high school orchestra concert. Then you will be sure.
And, strangely, before parties were outlawed, I went out two weekends in a row. What is this life? I haven’t done that since 1996.
One of the parties was a bonfire. We ate soup and burned brush. That is a thing we do in New England. It’s more fun than ice fishing.
Also:
Watford beat Liverpool. If you don’t know why this is a big deal, I probably can’t do it justice. But when my 16-year-old soccer nut called home, I got to blow his little blond head with this nugget of sports gossip. He spent five minutes saying: “No. No! Watford? NO WAY.” Then I told him the score (3-0) and it began all over again.
I read some great books! Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunwood was witty and terrific. Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson was creepy and disarming. Angel in a Devil’s Arms by Julie Anne Long is one of those books where the cover and title don’t do it justice. Slow clap for excellent writing!
And then IRL was canceled. Or cancelled. One of those.
Anxiety is the new norm. Sleep became difficult. My 16yo son had to come home from his amazing school forever, and he is depressed. But still there were lovely things. Including:
Watching my 14yo play his violin for his teacher on Zoom. This new lesson format works surprisingly well. And I didn’t have to drive 20 minutes and parallel park.
Reconnecting with old friends! 10 years ago I left New York City. Which meant leaving my book club. I began reading with these women in 1995, so now you know that I’m old. Anyway, we got the band back together and we’re meeting on Zoom. This month’s book club pick is The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish.
Supporting local businesses makes my heart happy. So far I’ve purchased books from The Norwich Bookstore, Still North Books, and bread from Umplebys and baking supplies from King Arthur. I’m trying not to buy anything from Amazon right now because the Coronavirus is growing their monopoly over everything. Plus, I feel stressed out for my UPS driver, Bruce.
I baked bread! My teenager made a coffee cake! I rented two mandolines from the struggling guitar store. I suck at Twinkle Twinkle, but my kid was playing Vivaldi ten minutes after we opened the cases! Life is weird and occasionally atonal. But we are still here, damn it. And I hope to have many more good things to say about April.
Love,
Sarina