"This one is Daddy, this one is me, and this one is Caspian," she said. "And you are the shell that keeps us all together."
Don't want to forget that one.
We had the book signing, and the book is out and about into the world, and as much as I want it to become an international best seller with script options (because that happens to all cookbooks, right?), the part I also really want to hang onto is how many people showed up to the local bookstore and bought books. Not strangers. There were maybe ten strangers. Instead they were customers and neighbors and friends and my mother and my sister's godmother and almost everybody bought multiple copies. The bookstore staff were astounded.
Not to mention we've sold books like they were the newest apple toy in-store like they were going out of style. All to people we know. I've gotten emails and hugs and phone calls telling me how wonderfully I write and how proud they are of me, the store, and Dixie.
It's incredibly sweet.
This is a good place to call home.
Daffodils are out and I have jars of them set around the house. My garden is planted-- chinese cabbage, snowpeas, sweet peas, broccoli, carrots, potatoes-- and things are growing. Slowly, but growing. The pearl bush I planted next to the front steps and the pink tulips Kagan's sister gave me are blooming. This is my favorite time of year... before the weeds, before the heat, when all is green promise.
My chickens are laying-- all of them!-- and the rooster has learned to crow. K. hauled two pigs to the slaughterhouse yesterday, so the store's freezer is stocked with pork chops and patty sausage, and our freezer at home is full to the gills.
We both have thousands of projects ahead of us but the skeleton is in place, and now we can just do a little here, a little there, when we feel like it, and in five years or so, we'll look up and it'll be amazing.
Caspian's best friend came home with us after school yesterday and played until dinner time. They ran around in the field and played with legos on the porch and Caspian's face just glowed with love and joy. He is so my child.
The avocados are perfect right now. Caspian shucked sweet corn for dinner and we ate pork chops, corn on the cob, sliced avocado, tomato, and drank prosecco at the table last night.
I feel very rich these days.
