May 2006
It wasn't that I ran out of words (although that's certainly what you would think after my year's
absence from this website). The words were there and found their way into two books. (EVER AFTER
and JUST ONE LOOK.) But when it came to this website and my two sadly neglected blogs, I had
nothing. Absolutely positively nothing.
Which, all things considered, is very strange since my life these last twelve months has been
filled with enough drama to fill a lifetime of books. In fact, maybe that's why I fell silent.
There was just so much craziness breaking out all around me I found it impossible to sit down
and make sense of it.
Days after my last update I received a telephone call from a genealogical private investigator
in Salt Lake City who gave me the news that an "unnamed relative" had died and I was most likely
the only living heir.
Huh?
When I picked myself up from the kitchen floor I quickly ran down the very tiny list of relatives
and figured out who the private eye was talking about. My Uncle Budd, my eccentric genius of an
uncle, had died in October 2004 and nobody had told me. In fact when I called his residence in
December of 2004 I was told Budd was hale and hearty and doing great in his 84th year.
Not quite.
That began the odd experience of explaining to total strangers that although your mother's father
had five wives in the course of his 100 years on this planet, he only had three children, and only
one of those three children Ð my mother Ð reproduced. Try explaining why some blood ties are
stronger than others, why both sons turned away from their father (and from what we call normal
life) and only his daughter chose the traditional path of marriage and family. Every family has
its share of idiosyncracies (a wonderful euphemism for a case of the flaming crazies) but I have
to admit that my very tiny circle definitely has more than its fair share.
What about the grandmother who related her entire life story for me on tape in 1976, right down
to the earthquake in New Zealand in the early 20th century, but forgot to mention her first husband.
Which wouldn't be a crime against the nation (we all have the right to our secrets, after all)
except for the fact that that first husband was my biological grandfather.
But I digress. Much of the early summer of 2005 was spent in amassing information about my mother's
family, photocopying letters and documents and handwritten memoirs that would prove that I am all
that remains. The process of proving my legitimacy (for want of another phrase) is said to take
twelve to eighteen months, most of which pass in deep and utter silence.
And that was only the first of many emotional explosions that hit us last summer and early autumn.
How about the fact that I can't find my aunt Mona? Or that our Township sent us a certified letter
last summer complete with a map of a "transit village" literally built on top of our house? Oh,
they said it wasn't an eminent domain issue but it might as well have been. Who in his or her
right mind wants to wave at commuters from their front yard? I won't bore you with the details
but our neighborhood got a close-up look at how local government works and it wasn't pretty. But
we did stand up for ourselves (and we made the front page of our local newspaper in the bargain)
and speaking out in a public forum felt even better than I had expected it would. To make a long
story short, we won our battle (at least it seems that way right now) but not through either our
efforts or a change of heart on the part of local government. No, it was a plain old garden variety
oversight that saved our bacon. An oversight on the part of the locals and an adherence to the
letter of the law on the part of NJ Transit. Talk about strange bedfellows. Who can say how long
our rural-esque neighborhood will retain what's left of its country charms but for the moment
life is good.
Did you notice that we've pulled the guestbook from the website? I hated doing it but the amount
of spam had finally reached critical mass and there was no other choice but to pull the plug. I
like to think I fought the good fight but they won the war. Maybe we'll bring it back sometime in
the future but for now it's a fond memory.
So what's new on the website? The monthly contest is up and running. I hope to revive my personal
blog and my knitter's blog. (I've said that a time or two in the past, haven't I?) And there's a
great recipe for Shrimp Scampi waiting for you.
I'm a great fan of Suzanne Beecher and her DearReader.com service. If you're not familiar with it,
I strongly recommend you check it out. Great reads on a daily basis. What's not to like? Suzanne
sends out a witty, warm email letter with the excerpt five days a week and I find myself looking
forward to her words as much as I look forward to the chapter excerpts. I was delighted when
Suzanne asked me to write a guest column in July while she's on vacation. I'll tell you more as
the time nears but suffice it to say I am both pleased and very proud.
So that's it for the moment. We'll be making some changes to the website over the next month or so.
Streamlining some things, adding to others. If there's something you'd like to see changed, let
me know and if I can incorporate it into the master plan, I will.
Thanks for being there. It's great to be back.
Warmly,
On sale now:
