Me and the Girl from the Hill at Davisville Library today
What a cool day. At our very first, and hopefully far from last, book reading and signing for A Girl From the Hill today, I was again reminded how much I love my friends and family.
Believe me, there is no feeling better than being surrounded by people who love and support you, and who truly enjoy watching and listening as you live a tiny piece of your dream.
I started A Girl From the Hill nearly three years ago. My mother and I both put in a lot of work, me listening, writing, re-writing and thinking long and hard about some tough subjects; my mother telling me things to be shared publicly that haven’t even been shared with everyone in her family. Pain, suffering, loss. Things that change a person forever. She revisited these places with me, along with going back to lots of good places. We certainly had laughs going back to Marshall Street together.
I had nightmares about today all week. One dream with 174 people packed into the tiny Davisville Free Library where I spoke. One with people yelling out questions which I couldn’t answer. Once with all of my family screaming at me. Boy am I uptight.
The good news is that a beautiful little library opened its doors to me, my family and friends for an hour or so of reading, laughing and sharing. And Dahlia enjoyed it so much, more than I imagined. I felt such the pride watching her and listening to her, answering questions, laughing, feeling the adoration of the group and giving it right back.
And even though I spent the day fretting and fussing and driving my poor sister Maree nuts, getting to the point where the poor woman couldn’t even watch the traffic for me as I backed out of my mother’s driveway, once I got settled in everything changed. In the moment, exactly where I was meant to be at exactly the right time. Satisfaction and contentment from bringing our work full circle.
I don’t know how I’ll do at our next gig, with perhaps more strangers and less familiar faces. But today, my peeps gave me the strength, courage and determination to do this again. Me and the Crow are ready for it.
