I love birthdays and March holds a stunning array for me–my twin, my father, Johanna, Mark, Benjamin, Frank, Grace, Bonnie, Susie, Johanna, Kevin. The list goes on.
March 15, 1947 was the very first appearance of my twin and me. This year I celebrate 68 years of having my very best friend by my side, in my thoughts, and celebrating the milestones of our lives.
The month of March has influenced me greatly. Being a twin taught me how to share just about everything from clothes to books to friends, sorrow, and how to support and love someone deeply.
Siblings, multiples, and singletons all have a perspective on their relationship with the rest of their family. I’ve looked at these relationship, been parts of many, and appreciate the emotions, promises, tensions, denials, and deepening bonds that keep us connected to those we love.
In 2008 I shared about family and twinship in Thinking of Miller Place: A Memoir of Summer Comfort. Six years later I gathered 39 of my relationship stories together into Seedlings, Stories of Relationships.
March 2, 2014 was the book launch for Seedlings. It was a day filled with happiness, smiles and sharing with good friends and fans of Seedlings at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in Tucson. And now my book is one!
Happy birthday to Seedlings, and all my March birthday friends.
This month I’m celebrating relationships on my website and sharing them for your enjoyment. Send me pictures of some of yours. Tell me what they mean to you.
Happy Birthday Seedlings! I still go back and read a chapter every now and then. I must have read the one about Dancing with your Mom four times now.
Thanks, Chris. Readers are attracted to the stories about my mother. Some say it is because they are now taking care of aging parents. What do you find brings you back to the Dancing story?
I think it is the writing that attracts me to this chapter. Not so much anything that has to do with my life in particular. Dialogue, setting, backstory, humor, character, are all very strong. You paint a vivid picture of your mom and your relationship with her in a relatively short chapter. I just read it again. Well done!