Upon returning home, I checked the mail (hadn't been delivered yet), brought garbage can and recycle bin back into the garage. I started to settle into an afternoon of garden planning up in our bonus room, along side Sue, who was finishing up a memory quilt.
I headed out the front door to check the mail again, when I noticed a package leaning against my porch railing. It was from Storey Publishing. I realized that this was a moment that would never be repeated - the first copy of my first book. My good day became a great day, and a very memorable one.
Or, rather, the end of the writing journey, but the beginning of another - the one that will take me here and there to share my excitement of growing tomatoes and to learn from other gardening enthusiasts along the way. I can't wait!
Just before dusk, we took our dogs on a walk. Sue mentioned something to me that came to mind as I was opening up the mailing envelope - how much of a kick my mom and dad, my grandmother and grandfather would have gotten from this. It was a most fitting thought - without the very early inspirations passed on grandfather Walter during walks through his garden, without early trips to the park to look at the flowers and those first back yard gardens - who knows if a day like today would have happened.