When I used to tell my children I could be a rich and famous author if I didn’t have so many kids, they would roll their eyes. “Mom, without us you wouldn’t have anything to write about.” They told friends, “Watch what you say. It can and will be used in a book.”
Now my four children are all in different time zones. I don’t even know what day they are living, forget what time it is. Their phone numbers are 12 digits long.
That curly-haired blond who does not believe home could be anywhere but Africa can only be Peter, the star of When Africa Was Home. He lives in Taiwan and my only grandchild, Ethan, is there too.
When I wrote First Grade King, Christopher said, “Mom! You can’t steal my ideas like that!”
Chris was born in the Peace Corps in Malawi, the child who said he did not belong in this family “I don’t do all this living abroad stuff.” He currently lives with his wife Laurie in Mozambique. THEY are in the Peace Corps. I like the circle of life theme.
Rachel currently holds down the fort in Pittsburgh. But she knows for certain who the star of One Thing I’m Good At Is. I don’t expect her to be there forever but it’s nice to have one kid who is only two hours off my time. If I could only remember two hours which way.
Jon keeps asking when that book about him will come out. Editors are slow to snap that one up. In the meantime I keep writing. There’s that first chapter with the the kid locked in the bathroom in high school. Problem is now he is down under in New Zealand. It is already tomorrow there.
All this makes things feel a little upside down for this writer mom. Am I really loosing all my material?
Of course I live in the Navajo Nation now…BTW, the rest of Arizona is in a different time zone than the rez. There is much to write about here but it is not going to make me rich or famous either.
Talk about leaving the nest. My chicks are migrating. For now the world is home. But it seems I got more writing done with four kids underfoot than I do when most of them are on the other side of the world.
