Week of 18 February 2002

It was not "A Week to Remember."

Okay, sorry about the pun, but in the spirit of the movie, I've wanted to use that one and was waiting for just the right moment. This, I think, was it, so let me start from the beginning.

I understand there is some curiosity about my life (or you wouldn't be reading this, for instance), but if there are any of you who believe that because I happen to have a small modicum of fame that my life is completely different than yours, I'd like you to know it just isn't true. It's always exciting, granted, but sometimes I'd be happy with a little less excitement and more time to relax. Let's see -- as I mentioned last week, I went to Los Angeles for the DVD commentary of A Walk to Remember and spent 20 hours traveling in a period of 30 hours or so. By the way, I flew coach and was lucky enough to have the middle seat both ways across the country. (No, no one recognized me; no, I couldn't upgrade, even if I'd wanted to, because of the last minute arrangements of the flights). I get home late Monday night, and our nanny (okay -- I'll admit that not everyone has a nanny, but not everyone has five kids -- three in diapers -- either) has to take the week off for medical reasons. Then, starting on Tuesday the twins both get sick and are up basically all night for three of the next four nights. Then the toddler gets a bad case of the flu. Then, the eight year old gets a terribly painful ear infection and has to stay home from school for three days, too. Meanwhile, my wife is driving to the store and is broad-sided by another driver who ran a red-light. (Both are fine, but both cars were seriously damaged -- always wear seat-belts!). Though free of major injuries, my wife was very, very sore and couldn't lift the children for a few days. That, of course, left me in charge of pretty much everything. Throw in having to house-break a new puppy, edit my novel, pick up after everyone, and you can probably imagine the big sigh I finally let out when Sunday came along and things had finally begun to calm down. So much for the glamorous life of an author, huh?

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