Congratulations to Gretchen Griffith who won the audio CD of The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill on last week’s blog.
After twenty-eight years, next week my husband Creighton and I will be loading a truck and moving to the eastern part of North Carolina to be closer to children and grandchildren. This post is full of nostalgia, memories, and family. But before it ends, I promise a literary connection too.
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| 6764 Benning Wood Drive |
In this home we celebrated birthdays,
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| Lindsey Baldwin Kasten circa 1987 |
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| Lisa Baldwin Edgar circa 1995 |
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| Baldwins Circa 1992 |
We welcomed son’s-in-laws, grand-dogs,
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| Circa 2005 |
and grandchildren.
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| Circa 2009 With Ebby and Caitlin |
We licked homemade strawberry jam from a century-old pot,
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| Margaret & Henry Federlin Circa 2005 |
And baked cookies,
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| Lisa and Grandma Federlin 2011 |
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| Rachel Federlin, 2012 |
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| With my sister, Barbara Federlin, 2012 |
more than a few times.
We played poker,
and prayed with friends.
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| With Beth Schulz, circa 1990. |
Our home hosted a few writing retreats,
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| With Donna Earnhardt, Rebecca Petruck, & Joyce Hostetter 2013 |
and was the construction site for new dental office cabinets.
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| “During” with Robert Toupal 2012 |
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| “After” |
Several friends–even those who aren’t writers–have waxed poetic about our move. “You’re just ending one chapter and starting a new one.”
And of course, they’re right.
But I’m not the only one who is facing changes.
One of my closest writing buddies, Linda Phillips, is celebrating a new chapter in her life.
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| Working on CRAZY at a Baldwin Writing Retreat 2011
She is on her first book tour in Oregon, celebrating the debut of her YA novel-in-verse, CRAZY.
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| Linda recently celebrated her launch at the Oregon Institute of Technology |
Linda and I have been friends ever since Fran Davis, a former Regional Advisor of SCBWI-Carolinas, told us that we would work well together as co-chairs of the conference in Charlotte.
Fifteen years later, I’m celebrating the new chapters in each of our lives by giving away a copy of CRAZY.
There you have it. Book Metaphors, Life Changes. And a Giveaway!
Faced any life changes recently or in the past? Leave me a comment by 8 AM on October 30 and tell me about it. Share this in your social media of choice and I’ll enter your name twice. Don’t forget to tell me what you did and leave your email address if I don’t have it.
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| Bookends 2014 |
Thanks, Grace. Your name is in the giveaway!
Thanks for the lovely post, Carol. Moving is hard, but the new place will soon be full of memories. Especially since you'll be close to family. Where is the new house, soon to be home? I live in New Bern and would love to be a new friend if you're close by. I have already read Linda's beautifully written book. I'm always amazed by people who can write in rhyme. I'm planning an interview with Linda on my blog sometime after the beginning of November.I've moved a number of times over my life, but the hardest was the last one. We owned a horse farm for 22 years, but when we had to put down our wonderful old Walking Horse in 2009, we couldn't deal with idea of putting down any more horses. He had been our daughter Susanne's gift from her husband and we took him when she died. So a part of us died with him. But we do have happy memories of our daughter and our horses.Good luck with your move and if you're moving to my area, please feel free to ask for help if you need it. Sarah