Once
upon a time, my high school Spanish
club held a fund raiser which required each member to sell boxes of Krispy
Kreme doughnuts. This was so out of my
comfort zone. We had only recently moved to Georgia and I was struggling – to fit
in, to be less shy, to be happy when I just wanted my old life back in Italy.
So the thought of going door-to-door selling doughnuts to strangers filled me with
anxiety. In the end, I sold two boxes
to an elderly couple who lived behind us and a few boxes to our neighbors across the street. I used my babysitting money to buy the rest.
Why am I telling you this story?
This week I formally announced that my book, An Ocean, an Airplane, and Two Countries Fullof Kisses, was officially released and available for purchase. Truthfully, I
could have made the announcement a week earlier, but I delayed because I wanted
to do it in a way that didn’t make me feel as if I were selling those boxes of
Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
And yet, if there is one thing I learned from writing
this book is that I’m not that same person anymore. During those first years
when I was trying to figure it all out, it was the written word—in all its
forms—which gave me comfort. I read voraciously (my first job as a teenager was
working in a library), I kept a journal, and I wrote stories. But mostly, it
was the weekly letters from Nonna, my Italian grandmother, that gave me what I
needed to keep trying. Nonna’s words (and her love) grounded me in ways nothing
else could.
Eventually, I did find my way. Things became good,
then better, and then even great.
It wasn’t until many years later when my mother and
I were going through Nonna’s letters—years and years of letters—that I realized
the true power of the written word. Just seeing Nonna’s handwriting helped me
remember her hands, large and strong and thick-veined. Just reading her letters
made me remember her passion, her laughter, and even what her voice sounded
like. Her written words evoked memories, feelings, and more than a little
nostalgia, and I recognized how so much of what she wrote and who she was could
be woven into the fabric of my life—of who I was, am, and always will be.
The very next day I began writing An Ocean, an Airplane, and Two CountriesFull of Kisses.
So last week, while contemplating how to announce my
book in a way that was meaningful, the image of the Spanish Club fundraiser and those pesky boxes of Krispy Kreme
doughnuts popped into my mind. But you know what? The memory made me smile. I am not
selling doughnuts anymore; in fact, I am so beyond those doughnuts.
I’m telling a story.
Because that’s who I am.
It’s that simple.
To purchase
An Ocean, an Airplane, and Two Countries Full of Kisses
visit any of the links below.
