A Heartwarming Letter

The letter below appeared in my email and filled me with joy. Nothing inspires me more than to learn my work has touched someone. I am not including the sender's name out of respect for privacy, but I'm so grateful for the effort taken to reach out to me. 

"Hi, Arleen!

You might not remember me; it HAS been a while! ... In the meantime, I have purchased and read all your books: the trilogy, "The 39th Victim", and just recently, "Pandemic Baby", and I've enjoyed all of them!!

I'm dropping you this note to tell you how much I've LOVED your 'journaling' about your life, the birth of your grandson, and all the peripheral events around your time with him in the following several years!  

You have entertained me with your activities, relationships with your daughter, your folks, husband, and especially, baby Jack.  I remember those years with my first grandchild and honor all the feelings you expressed about that, as well as the fun of being around him and his family, and especially, the way you loved him -- allowing him to explore, get dirty, express his excitement with new things, and just let him be an active, curious little boy, loved by his family. I appreciate and enjoy your poetry in these regards also.  

The challenges and worrisome times of Covid you shared were appreciated because I had forgotten some of them. I wasn't around a child at that time but your fears (for Jack, his mother--especially during her pregnancy--and the world!), confusion about the vaccinations, and general care for your family, the environment, and for the world touched me, and I wanted to tell you that!  And, I wanted to compliment you for sharing your experiences and thoughts in the way you did, in your 'Letters to My Grandson before He Could Read'!  I love that title too; it says a lot -- and set the stage for your concentrated care for him at such a vulnerable stage.

Good work, Arleen!!  Your books have inspired me to write, and while I DO journal, I've never published anything but YOU inspire me too; I might someday yet."

I also want to take a moment to thank Librarian Zlatina Encheva for sharing the flyer above announcing the reading at Fairwood Library this Sunday. If you're interested in memoir writing and want to hear some passages from Pandemic Baby: Letters to My Grandson Before He Could Read, please join me. Books will be available for purchase at a discount. 

Fairwood Library 
17009 140th Avenue SE
Renton, WA 98058
3:00pm Sunday, May 4

For more information, click HERE.

Mark Your Calendars!

 

Growing up on undeveloped woodland in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, my family was high on adventure and love for our few horses but low on cleared pastureland to feed our beloved four-legged friends. From a very young age, one of the chores my siblings and I were given was to lead the animals to the cleared right-of-way running under the Bonneville powerlines and stake them out to graze.

When I opened the bedroom curtains to a beautiful spring morning after being away from home for several days, the first thought that surfaced in my sleep-fogged brain was The horses will love all that lush, overgrown clover and grass. In quick succession came I need a horse.

But no, I do not need a horse though I do love my memories of childhood horses. I also find joy in my little, metal pony who now inhabits my garden.

My latest memoir, Pandemic Baby: Letters to My Grandson Before He Could Read, focuses on more recent memories of the birth of my first grandchild during the COVID pandemic and Trump’s first term. The story unfolds in a unique combination of journal entries, letters, and poetry. 

I’m happy to announce two upcoming events. I hope you can join me! For the first, I’ll be returning to the King County Public Libraries. 

Author Event

Fairwood Library 
17009 140th Avenue SE
Renton, WA 98058
3:00pm Sunday, May 4
More Information HERE
Registration recommended but not required

I’m also pleased to invite you to the It’s About Time Reading Series. This month it will be a tribute to longtime Seattle area poet Millie Renfrow. Her daughter, Barb Renfrow-Baker, and poet Miriam Bassuk will read some of Millie's poems. There will also be four featured readers: Griffith H. Williams, Katy E. Ellis, Sybil James and me.

It's About Time Reading Series
Ballard Library
5614 22nd Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
6:00pm Thursday, May 8

More Information at the It’s About Time events page on Facebook. 

You may also be interested in this article on HistoryLink.