I had just five plans for Mother's Day weekend: work, stopping at The Book Market for Jennifer Russ' book signing (which went extremely well, eleven copies sold), Phyllis' memoir, working on my werewolf story, and copy editing the fourth installment of Before the Blood, as it was due on my doorstep on Saturday.
And walking, but that's a given. And I had a tentative breakfast with Timothy on Saturday to plot out the fourth book in the Adventures of Cornell Dyer series.
Here's what really happened.
Timothy and I did meet for an early breakfast on Saturday morning. After a couple hours, we were still in chapter three of Cornell Dyer and the Never Robbers. But we did pick it up for about four more hours on Sunday afternoon. We are still not through chapter five. And we had a great time!
Then I went home and worked for a few hours, and Timothy ran errands. When I found a ride to take some photos for a story in Monday's Herald-News, I also stopped at The Book Market to take photos of Jennifer Russ for the WriteOn Joliet Facebook page.
When I'd met all my deadlines for work, I turned my attention to the memoir for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I did not pick this back up the rest of the weekend. So I did not accomplish as much as I'd wished.
When I went downstairs to reheat my coffee and check the mail, the Amazon truck was pulling up. I am now halfway through the proof copy of a book that's over 90,000 words. BTW, the font isn't crooked, the cover is now curled from frequent handling and resisted staying in place for the photo.
After Jasmine and Rebekah got off work, we went to my oldest son's house in Mazon for an impromptu birthday party for one of my grandsons, who turned 7 on Friday and did NOT want to smile for my camera.
On Sunday, while I accompanying Timothy on some of his errands, I received this "BryonySeries" sweet from mall staff. I saved it to split with Rebekah. It's actually a Rise Krispies treat.
In late afternoon, I forsook my usual Sunday work (I usually spend the afternoons working to get a jump on Monday) in favor of a long "Cornell" talk with Timothy (and to drink the Gloria Jean's coffees he bought for us, and to eat up nearly an entire loaf of the banana bread with chocolate chips Rebekah baked after the birthday party) and housework after he left with Jasmine for a Mother's Day celebration on her side of the family.
But I also received another Gloria Jean's coffee from the Rebekah and Jasmine when they arrived (so now I have leftovers for today). I should also mention Timothy bought me a dark roast from Brewed Awakenings in Morris on the way to Mazon (the dark roast of the day was from Honduras. And it was delicious).
Along with this card and gift card:
And plenty of flowers: from Jasmine, Rebekah, and Daniel. Don't judge the plastic pitcher/makeshift vase, LOL. The baggie on the left is the remaining banana bread. BTW, We had banana bread because Rebekah made two loaves as a Mother's Day gift for a woman at her work. She also made two pumpkin pies on Saturday night, one for us and one for another woman at work, also for a Mother's Day present. I just wanted to add this because Rebekah and Jasmine have worked twelve to fourteen hour days since Thursday because of the holiday.
I also talked to my own Mon via phone and twice with Sarah (Saturday and Sunday). And her son Lucas called me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.
After I did housework, I popped popcorn, Rebekah grated cheese, and we sat down to hear about her day. Then Daniel came home with more flowers (we were out of vases, having lent one, so we used the pitcher) and a gift from him and Timothy.
I foolishly abandoned the Sunday work for the evening and settled down to watch four episodes with Daniel (whose favorite character is Bert), Rebekah (who also loves the show), and Timothy (who was mildly surprised we started without him) when he returned from his event.
From time to time, we had to pause the viewing for one last lovely surprise: updates on the cover for Cornell Dyer and the Eerie Lake (the third book, which is just waiting for art), from illustrator Sue Midlock, which I kept showing to Timothy for his comments, too.
I woke up this morning to a nice Mother's Day text from Joshua. And I received (and sent) texts from other mothers I know and love.
I did not get any work done on the werewolf story, but one can't have everything. But I DID have a lovely writerly weekend filled with family time and sprinkled with delightful surprises.
I didn't write this post to brag about the terrific weekend I had. But I did want to give those who follow this blog a glimpse what I value in life: giving and receiving love. And this past weekend was filled with examples of it.
Because, yes, even my books qualify. My ability to write is a talented I've worked hard to develop to ultimately inform, inspire (my feature stories for The Herald-News, Phyllis' memoir), and entertain (readers of the BryonySeries).
And now Monday is tightly packed because I didn't work yesterday.
But I will have plenty of Gloria Jean to help me through it.
Have a blessed Monday, readers, writers, and BryonySeries fans! :)
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