Rare and Happy Coincidence

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

Emily Dickinson

This was the view out my front door early Saturday morning. The first snowfall of the season had arrived and it wasn't going to be less than predicted. It was going to be more! Undaunted, Greg and I set off for Red Wing, usually an hour's drive south of the Twin Cities. I didn't want to disappoint the bookstore in Red Wing where I was scheduled to do a reading, sing-a-long and signing for The Twelve Days of Christmas in Minnesota.

Our drive was your basic white-knuckle event. More cars and trucks seemed to be in the ditches than on the road. But I really wanted to make it as I had canceled an appearance at this store last year when my mother was hospitalized. And I had another reason too...

More than a thousand miles away in balmy Alexandria, Virginia my good friend Candice Ransom was signing her book, The Twelve Days of Christmas in Washington, DC. It's a holiday book from the same series and publisher as mine. Who would have guessed eight years ago when Candice and I met in the airport in Philadelphia, nervously waited out a monster summer storm at the end of the runway and even more nervously landed in Vermont for the beginning of a master's program in writing for children, that we'd be signing sister books on the same day? That we'd still be fast friends sharing the writing road and our life journies.

Well, it's hardly surprising that Candice would be signing a book eight years later. She was already an accomplished author when she came to Vermont College seeking new directions for her writing. Me? I was a newbie eight years ago overflowing with plenty of hopes and dreams but not enough knowledge of the craft and business of writing.

As the years passed since we completed our amazing MFA program, Candice has published more books and I've been writing, writing, writing, submitting, submitting, submitting. Then, thanks to Candice and her recommendation, I got a shot at writing The Twelve Days of Christmas in Minnesota. The success of the book has been exciting, gratifying and heart-warming. My mother passed away last Christmas, but not before she saw the book and was able to share my joy.

Now back to last Saturday... We reached our destination on time and wondered if any kids would brave the icy snow in Red Wing to visit the bookstore. In a few minutes, we had the answer. I spotted a boy and his parents trudging through the slop and going into the store. They were followed by another family and then another. Bless the parents who bundle their children on a snowy day to go hear an author read a book!!

The bookstore was located across the street from what looked like an old furniture store turned into a church. Through the large front display windows we could see a flag-draped coffin and people in line to pay their respects. Clearly a funeral was going on. So, on one side of the street, the end of a story. On the other side of the street, stories still to be written--my own and that of the little visitors who came to listen. 

In the cozy bookstore with its glowing fireplace we sang, we read and we chatted. And the boy in the front row made faces at me by pulling his eyes down and pushing his nose up, and the little guy next to him told me he has seen bears and wolves and eagles--absolutely everything in the book, and the baby bopped to the guitar music and the sweet curly-haired toddler gave me a puzzled stare the whole time, but listened intently to every word. Magical! This is the payoff for long hours at my desk and years of hoping.

11-16-10

Dreams do come true with a little help from your friends.

PS. If you want to read Candice's version of this story check out her blog.

http://candice-ransom.livejournal.com/39549.html