Defining Moment...Reverb10

It’s finally here. December 28, the day my prompt on Reverb10 airs. If you’ve been following the prompts you know that each one has allowed us to look back and reflect, but also to look forward with hope and promise to the next year.

So here is my prompt:

Defining moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

And here is my answer: This year’s defining moment was when my oldest son received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy on Christmas Eve. I was overjoyed for him but at the same time I know it means he is leaving our home…for a very long time. How is it that he is all grown up? Just yesterday I took him to his first day of Kindergarten (that's his "first day of school" photo above). Where did all the time go?

I cleaned out my sons’(I have two teenage boys) game room last week. I stacked plastic boxes of Legos and GI Joes and X-box games and Playstation controllers. I placed them all in neat rows, then stood back. And for a moment, I wished that Lego police station/airport/city center was still spread across the floor, taking up the whole space so that it was hard to take more than three steps into the room. I wished it because it would mean my son was nine again. And I would have eight more years to spend with him.

Now, every night he walks in the door after practice is a gift. I find myself taking photos of him for no reason. At his last home game I took over 400 photos because I knew I would never see him play water polo again.

But there he is, six feet two, seventeen, going off to become who he will be, with his hopes and his dreams and his eagerness to serve, leaving us here to walk by his room and wait for his phone calls.

Letting go is hard, but necessary. It is something that causes me to hold my hand over my heart, as if shielding it from the pain.

I think I will have to get another dog.

Reverb 10...reflections on 2010

My editor at HarperCollins, Molly O'Neill, recently told me about three women who started an annual online event which will help us in reflecting on the past year. Their website is here:

http://www.reverb10.com/

And this is how they describe the event: Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. Use the end of your year as an opportunity to reflect on what's happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10 - and the 31 prompts our authors have created for you. You can commit and start at any time during December 2010. And you may respond to the prompts in any way you wish - this project is designed for you to discover what needs discovering, however's best for you.

I was lucky enough to have a prompt which was chosen and will be airing December 29, Wednesday. And while I'm not supposed to tell what it is until that day, I will give you a smallish hint: it's about destiny and what defines our lives.

...which is probably no surprise to you if you've been following my blog.

I hope you'll respond on twitter or facebook, or your own blog. I'll be giving away a few copies of my book, The Year the Swallows Came Early, to those who do answer. I wish I could send everyone a copy because I appreciate the time and thought that goes into answering these prompts. I've been participating on twitter this month, and it's through these prompts that I've been able to see how grateful I am for this past (very fast) year in my life.

California Readers 2011 Collection

The California Readers Collection has just posted their 2011 book lists. I’m thrilled to learn that THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY has been selected for both the elementary school and the middle school list. Because each list has only 100 titles, I am extremely honored. The criteria for selection are as follows:

Must be written by a California author or illustrated by a California artist.
Meet the criteria of excellent literature.
Provide a balanced collection from picture books to history.
Reflect the entire spectrum of curriculum areas in a balanced collection.
Focus on the diversity of California population.
Illuminate the various California geographical areas.
Raise awareness about issues important to California.

For those of you who would like to see the other titles, here’s the link:
http://www.californiareaders.org/collections/index.htm