May 15, 2006

Hi, everybody –

Thanks for stopping in. I think I’ve found a part-time assistant and I’m thrilled. I’ve been so overwhelmed that the thought of a lot of those details easing up is absolutely delicious. I’ve chosen someone who’s very good with web stuff so I will soon be doing links and other web things I’ve not ventured into before.

I had a beautiful Mother’s Day and hope you did, too. Adair came over to watch the last three episodes of Big Love that I’d saved for her on Tivo. Then we went to her place to walk the dogs in Morningside Park---a lovely, woodsy, hilly place behind the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It’s so rustic---you’d never believe you were in Manhattan. Mother’s Day dinner was at Zenith, a vegetarian restaurant we like in the theater district on 48th Street, Restaurant Row. And Adair gave me some feedback on my new book.

I admire her so much. She works hard---she’s on fulltime now at the health club where she works, plus training her personal clients, going to auditions, voice classes, rehearsals and performances, and being a wife, “mom” to two dogs (one an elder, one a puppy), co-homeowner, and volunteer dog-walker for a shelter. She’s also gone back to the Chinese studies she started when she was eight, taking classes and working with a language partner.

It’s interesting to look at her today, at twenty-three, and think back on our home-schooling past. I was of the “learning from life” philosophy and followed her lead quite a bit. Her interest in theater put literature and history into the curriculum; our travels broadened her horizon and led to the Chinese studies; math we did because we had to and science she’s become much more interested in now than she was as a kid. The home-schooling experts I read at the time emphasized that education should be a never-ending process, and I see that in my daughter today. (So I’m a boringly proud mom. Please allow me this Mother’s Day indulgence.)

I’d like to share with you the link to Body & Soul magazine. If you’ve been to my site or followed my blog, you know I’m a contributing writer there. They’re now featuring all their contributing writers---people like Cheryl Richardson, Jennifer Louden, and me---on their newly designed website, www.bodyandsoulmag.com. Take a look: I think you’ll like what you see.

It’s 7:30 and I’m still at my desk. Gosh, having an assistant will be like a day at the beach. Maybe I’ll even take a day at the beach! Have a wonderful week. Look closely at everything.