The Weekend After Christmas

So here it is, a cold but not quite dreary Saturday afternoon. The hubbub of Christmas joy shared with six children, two significant others of those children, and one nine-month old grandson is over, and the house is quiet. The trees are still decorated, but bare of presents, and look lonely. As I ambled around looking for something to do after lunch, I decided to catch up on some reading. In the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Poets & Writers was a touching entry in the usual The Literary Life column, titled Finding Beverly. It took us through the journey of how Beverly Jensen, through the tireless work of her husband and friends (and the help of the columnist as well), will have her life's literary work - a novel called Going Back Up - published by Viking in 2010. I had tears in my eyes as I finished this column, touched that so many people cared so much about this woman's writing to ensure her voice was read even after her death. What a beautiful tribute to her and gift to her children! Wow!