Thursday morning my mom called me and said, “Do you have a minute?”  I said, “Sure, what’s up?”

She said, “Now when you’re father can’t sleep at night instead of painting, he’s decided to read your book.”

I said, “Holy crap, you’re kidding me.”

And she said, “No, and he is so impressed with your work, he wrote a note to you last night before he went to bed.”

She proceeded to read the note to me.  The note was so special filled with lots of accolades and maybe at least one ‘genius’ thrown in too.  (Hey I am his kid, of course he’s going to think that)….  But what was so impressive was how special and proud he is of me.  I’m still cringing with the idea he is reading stuff that he and I have absolutely never ever talked about….I feel a little naked here…maybe not as much as if I were Miley Cyrus…naked for the world to see… but close.

My father has never been one to demonstrate his feelings towards us a lot but that was before he got cancer this last time.  Now every time we talk he is quick to tell me/us how proud he is of us and how much he loves us.  Touches my heart.  I’ve  always known how much he cares but its always been from a quiet place.

I think reading my book- and by the way, my dad only reads historical/political/scientific/newspaper kind of stuff….facts spelled with a big FACT- never ever fiction.  But he is actually enjoying my book.  Unreal.  I just wish I could hide certain parts from his eyes …language not so much, he was a sailor after all and a wizard at fixing everything in and out of the home except plumbing which is where I learned most of the 4 letter words I use today…just sayn’.

At any rate I think he has always seen me in a different light, his daughter light and to see me as an artist has opened a whole new door.  And he’s proud of me.  Did I already mention that?  And how many times???

I am so grateful he thinks that way.

This came on a good week.  In the beginning of the week I felt like I had a lot coming at me….I’m trying to promote my book; get the word out…..I’m a creative artist…not so much a business person so this end of the spectrum can feel pretty daunting at times especially when I come up against road blocks.  And I had a few this week.

In the midst of these (which I’m not going to mention cause well I can’t say…but I can say now I’m laughing instead of crying about them) the marketing person with Balboa called me to see how its going…I was momentarily struck silent for a second…yes, me with no words.  I had nothing.  I thought about Hillary Clinton….:) she came out with her book what- last week? and already its sold millions.  Maybe I should introduce myself…

One idea I had was moving my book at the book store to a more prominent spot, you know where everyone can see it.  (That’s marketing right?  And I saw it done in the movie Endless Love)  My friend who was at the store had the same idea and did it for me- sending me a picture of my book’s new home.  Later on that evening I went in to see for myself.  My book had been removed and put back in its original spot….not that its a bad spot…its a great spot… But I thought it would be a good idea to have my book in beach reads as well as new romance.   I mean Sunny’s Story is all about the beach in a manner of speaking.  I approached two of the personnel there to talk to them about it.  Lets just say they were less than receptive to the idea of talking to me.  Maybe I had on my alien mask or something…:)

Feeling discouraged and a little off, it was such cool surprise to hear that my dad was reading my book and that he actually likes it…Go figure that…

Now if I can just get over the idea of him reading those parts……………..:)