Please, No Futons on Game Day
It all started with an old futon that my eighteen-year-old son wanted from home for his dorm room. His loving parents drove two hours with it on game day. Not the smartest decision.
Maybe it was last-child syndrome. You know, where you get guilted into it because “you drove cross country in a blizzard to move the girls but what do I get? Dumped off at college with almost nothing except the clothes on my back.” (Poor baby. Tuition, a meal plan, and clean socks are a lot of nothing, huh?)
Mission Accomplished
Being the great parents that we are, we somehow took the futon apart enough to fit it into the back of a CRV and get it to the dorm. As soon as we pulled up, my husband got out of the car, looked around nervously at all the traffic, and told me, go park.
What? On game day? No, siree. Not me. YOU park the car, I said.
Look, hubby said. Unless you can haul this futon up to the 6th floor and put it together, you need to park the car.
But, but…I sputtered. It’s not that I have fear of parking. More like fear of getting lost. It’s not beyond me to get lost going to the grocery store, and it’s only a mile away from my house. I did the math in my head. 95,000 people in the stands, say a car for every 2-5 people? That’s a lot of fighting for parking spaces.
Behind us, cars were honking and people were getting irate. After all, who unloads a futon during game day? Crazy people, right?
So I went, I looked, I parked. The highlight of this hour-long experience was watching people happily tailgating in an open-aired corner of the parking deck, which I thought was very creative!
By the time I walked twenty minutes back to the dorm, the futon was together and husband, son, and roomie were sitting on it relaxing. Grrr. (I tossed husband evil look.) He probably didn’t even see it, seeing as he was too busy fondly reliving his own college experiences.
The game was fun, but at the end of the day, getting out of that deck took an entire hour, then we spent another half hour in traffic watching college kids wander around on High Street, one of whom lost it in a trash can just feet from our car.
Ah, good old college days.
My son was grateful for the old futon with a rip in it (which, I am proud to say, he sewed himself). And for an old rug we found in the attic. The dorm room had been transformed into A Cool Gathering Place. My baby son’s home away from home.
Was it worth all the pain and suffering to see the smile on my son’s face?
Um, no, not really. Well, okay. Maybe a little.
Dear Caffeine, I Miss You
In my opinion, there’s nothing better than the hour after you drink a cup of coffee. You’re in love, you’re the most creative being on the planet, life is great!
Even when I was a child, the smell of coffee brought great memories. My parents used to drink coffee together over breakfast on the weekends and they used to pour me some, too. Mostly milk, but nevertheless I learned early that it was a beverage of love and companionship. And for adults. Cool beans.
As an adult, when I worked night shifts, the omnipresent coffee, burnt and acidy as it was, was a great comfort. Maybe not many others were awake, but you and me, coffee, together we could make it through till morning.
Then there’s the indescribable pleasure of driving through McDonald’s on a sweltering day and ordering an ice cold Diet Coke. Nothing like it in the world. It tastes ten thousand times better than the kind you pour at home. Period.
My dear migraine specialist tells me the only carbonated cola I can now consume is Diet Rite caffeine free cola which contains Splenda not Nutrasweet, which is known in some people with migraines (i.e., me) to cause headaches. It’s not bad, but it’s not Diet Coke, that’s for sure.
I was in denial for years, but at last my love affair with caffeine had to end. It was was so, so seductive and attractive, but very, very bad for me. It gave me headaches that went on for days. It took all the strength I had, but I had to clean up my pantry and my life.
Not that it’s been easy. I’m still known to have a stash of Ghirardelli milk and caramel squares locked away in my bottom desk drawer for times of emergency (i.e., edits from hell). I’ve even been known to take migraine medicine for a headache then say, what the heck, I’ve got one anyway, and chase it with a piece of chocolate. (I don’t recommend this, but hey, desperate times…)
Migraines are a pain (lol) and the dietary restrictions are too, but I’ve learned to adapt. White chocolate ain’t bad. The barista at my local Starbucks works hard not to roll her eyes when I come in—the “tall decaf” lady—adventurous, woo hoo. 
And I comfort myself by knowing that my favorite food in the world, ice cream, is still fair game.
Thank God I’m not lactose intolerant.
The crazy holidays have ended, thank Baby Jesus.
I was just sitting here in a daze, thinking about the past few weeks. Make that the past year. This was my first year as a published author!
What a year! I wanted to thank everyone for the kind notes and messages you’ve sent my way. I’ve loved every one. It thrills me when you reach out to tell me that one of my stories has made you laugh or had made your day a little brighter. Thanks so much!
I turned in a book mid-November and thought, ah, finally, I can get my life together now and get ready for the holidays. Take a breath and all that. But then I got hit with a set of edits. And right after I finished those, I got hit with more edits–this time for my Montlake book that will be coming out in June. My holiday fantasies of sipping wine, wrapping gifts while listening to Michael Buble croon about how it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas faded fast. And my house looked like nothing but a disaster!
I always said th
e two worst months as parents with small children are May and December. What I learned this year is even if the kids are not little, December is still brutal!
There is a scene in the 2006 version of Pride and Prejudice where Keira Knightly is staring into space and days and nights are rising and fading around her as she continues to stare. Well, that was me, sitting at my desk. Dawns and dusks blew past. Children came home from college and grad school. Somehow the tree got put up–haphazardly. All those treasured homemade ornaments never quite made it on the tree this year. And still I sat. Bye, have fun! I called to my family. I’ll still be sitting here when you return! Just dust me off when you get back!
Hubby spreading good cheer.
Don’t get me wrong–I am so, so grateful to be writing! It was just a little cray-cray to be on deadline all through the holidays with the house full of people and chaos.
I did manage to have some fun despite working. We cooked, we baked, we dined, we spread a little good cheer.
18 yr. old son–I guess he grew some 🙂
We got all the kids into the kitchen helping out, including my male child, even though he outgrew his apron that my dear friend sewed for him when he was five.
And we got to see the new Star Wars movie as a family, which was really fun.
The edits somehow got done and turned in. Even though this holiday was crazy and imperfect, i.e., the decorations were weak, the cookies got done late, and no Christmas cards got sent, and I did all my shopping in one day–I think we managed to have what really counts–the time with family.
Below is a pic of my favorite present. My husband bought me a giant dry erase board to plot with and he hung it up in our basement (it weighs forty pounds!). I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about this gift!
As we leave the craziness of the holidays behind, I wish you all a wonderful 2016 full of blue sky and clear vision and dreams that come true.
Or, in lieu of a perfect year, I wish you peace and love and the things that really count. Happy 2016!
Image from freefoto.com, 1223_09_1_prev
Tour de Philly
Liberty Bell Mums
First of all, thanks so much, everybody, for your support of This Love of Mine, which released earlier this month! Really appreciate all the kind comments. And the newsletter sign-ups and Facebook likes.
And just to let you know–I have giveaways going on at Fresh Fiction from now till the end of the year. One click is all it takes for a chance to win a book.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to visit my Darling Daughter #1 who recently moved to Philadelphia. I had so much fun discovering this amazing city that I wanted to share some pics.
First, there were these fabulous mums in front of the Liberty Bell. You can’t really see the Liberty Bell (behind the glass doors) in that pic so there it is again (below) with my daughter in front of it. It was my first time seeing it! I was really touched by the inscription on the plaque on the wall outside of it which said “Cracked and silent, yet world famous, the bell reminds us to focus on strengths not weaknesses.” (Love that advice for life in general.)
Darling Daughter and Ms. Liberty.
Chocolate mouse, anyone?
We went to the famous Redding Market, where all kinds of fabulous foods, flowers, and other wares are sold. Anyone for a chocolate rat? Or a fabulous warm pretzel?
Amazing pretzels from Redding Market
Wow. Just wow.
One of the most fascinating sites–and hard to miss!–was the massive, iconic City hall building, built beginning in the 1870’s. It has a 27-ton stature of William Penn, the city founder, at the top. We took an elevator to the top of the tower and saw Mr. Penn’s giant arm! It was awe-inspiring.
The best part of the trip, of course, was being with my adult child, of whom I couldn’t be more proud.
We’ll take our blessings any way we can find ’em!
Taking a Risk for Love
My heroine of This Love of Mine, Meg Halloran, is not a risk taker. She’s a dutiful daughter and a hardworking bridal shop owner struggling to get her business off the ground, and she’s overwhelmed in many ways.
She’s fantasized about Ben Rushford, an ER doctor, for too many years, and she finally decides to kick the habit. And it’s at that point that fate has other ideas.
Initially, Meg is the kind of woman who gets tongue-tied in front of Ben. She thinks she’s not the kind of woman he prefers and she couldn’t be more wrong. Ben is keeping a secret that impacts both of their lives and which has kept him away from her for years.
The thing I love about Meg’s evolution is that she gets thrown into a crazy situation and she gives it her all—even though it takes her way, way out of her comfort zone. She goes from barely being able to converse with Ben to being his dignified, articulate date in front of his potential future employers. She gets up and dances—something that makes her very, very nervous. She goes to a camp for diabetic children with Ben armed with Deep Woods Off and finds herself scaling a muddy obstacle course in a competition.
Her motto may as well be this one…
But Meg is no pushover. She learns through the course of the book to value her own self worth. She finds she’s the only one who can push through the great barriers Ben has erected around himself and get to the bottom of the heartbreaking secret he carries. The courage it takes to be honest comes at a great risk, one she is very uncomfortable with taking. But she takes that risk for love.
Ben, too, puts up a happy-go-lucky front for everyone although his inner self is a lot different. He is an upstanding, hardworking, good, good guy, (and hot), but he hasn’t been able to reach out to Meg for years. I love this story because both of these characters free each other in totally different ways. Love, forgiveness, acceptance, and the total honesty that breaks down barriers and frees a person to be the person he or she was meant to be–their best self. (And yes, this is why I love romance!)
Hope you enjoy the trouble Meg and Ben get into…and have a few laughs along the way.
Happy Fall!
Miranda
This Love of Mine is available starting October 6th. (See my book page for retailers.)
