I’m delighted to report that a first copy of My Nepenthe arrived in the mail yesterday–the real deal, bound and delivered with that oily smell of fresh ink. My daughter, Nicoya, saw it before I did, hence the photo, and then made repeated calls to my cellphone telling me how great it looked. After hearing that Nepenthe received their own first copy much earlier in the day, I ran circles around the house waiting for mine to no avail; the kids got home from school and I told them all about its pending arrival, and still we waited. Not until I went out the door and off for the evening, did it show up. It’s always that way, isn’t it?

At any rate, I landed at home around 9 last night to a colorfully illustrated  ”Congrats, Mom” by Nicoya, staged on the box containing my book. Dropping everything, I eagerly pulled it from its package, and sat down on the couch. With her tucked close and peering over my shoulder, I looked at every page as if I’d never seen them before. There was something about caressing the paper, looking at each image, each story and recipe, answering her every question and running my fingers over the spot varnished flowers on the cover, that made it real, tangible-as in yes, it is here. A sweet moment, for sure.

“Check your facebook page,” she beamed, then ran to get my computer to show me that she had proudly photographed herself holding my book before promptly blasting it across the universe, including “friending” me so that she could post it on my page too (If you’re not a Facebook person, you won’t understand how significant it is if your kids friend you). “Did you listen to your phone messages?” “All my friends want to read it.”

You know, kids are surprising. As I’ve said here before, it seems one minute they love you and the next they don’t, or at the very least can do without you at any given time (until dinner or cash is involved). I guess I hadn’t realized until that instant how this book might make them feel, that they just might be excited to share in its accomplishments. More than once over its development, I heard a strained pleading in the phrase, “Your book again!” Especially on the days it seemed to spill over into all aspects of my life–my thoughts, my dreams, my kitchen, the refrigerator, the table, the walls, the whole darn house. But as Trevor said recently, and not at all smugly, “It’s been 3 years of ‘our’ life.” So true. Not only was it my years, it was theirs too, as is this book. My Nepenthe is for them.

It’s also for you, so I hope you will look for it in stores in the coming month, or if you haven’t already, buy it online through the Nepenthe Phoenix Shop and you will receive a signed first edition copy. If you would like it addressed to a particular person, I’m happy to oblige-send me an email. I can also send along a signed bookplate designed with my grandmother’s fabric. And while we are at it-do take a look at my Events page. There will be a book release party at Nepenthe on October 24th. I hope you can come.