The Book Cover

Steph made a couple of mock-ups for the cover of my novel last night and this is the one I've chosen.  It's really happening!  I'm about to become an author! 

Click on the image to enlarge.

It's getting down to the wire!

Several months ago I invited Steph to collaborate with me on my novel--to add some of her research, expertise, and knowledge into the mix and thus we began to work on the project together.  Now I'm happy to announce that this weekend I finished it and will, in the next few weeks, be in the midst of the final edits, a final reading, and then I'll be self-publishing it with the on-demand publishing company, Lulu.com, under the title of So Faithful a Heart: The love story of Wolfgang Mozart and Nancy Storace.

I have a wonderful sense of accomplishment today.

At last, my love has come along.

I don't have the words to express what I'm feeling today.  You have changed the meaning of love for me, and from this point on, I will never look at love the same.  You are my heart, my soul, my very life. 

Happy Birthday, my love.

Today she's 21

Where did all the time go?  Yesterday she was my little girl, giggling and laughing with her friends, coming up to our room and laying on the bed while I held her in my arms and stroked her hair.  Then she left for France and stayed a long time.  When she came back she had changed--transformed from a giggling teenager into a young woman.  Now, with a year of college behind her she has long left the little girl behind and I see standing before me the woman that I envisioned she would become. 

How I love you, Lauren.  Happy Birthday.

Love letters buried in a box

As I was going through a packet of emails from Steph that I had printed from ten years ago, I found the most incredible, most beautiful love letter that I had completely forgotten about.  When I read it, tears poured from my eyes, for it was like reading it for the first time.  I relived the joy and excitement of our new love all over again, and marveled at how our love for one another has only grown since then.  The letter is far too intimate for me to share all of it but I want to share just one paragraph that especially touched me.

I could lay all sorts of bon mots at your delicious feet.  I could promise you to climb the highest mountain, or swim the deepest sea, but really, what merit is there in vows that will never be called upon?  No.  I vow to you my undying love for all eternity, whatever that is.  I vow that whatever happens in this universe, I shall always find you and love you.  You will never be alone.  And while we are here, I shall always treat you with the respect and love you so singularly deserve.  Whomever else may have my body, you will own my heart.

Amor De Mi Alma: You Are the Love of My Soul

Yo no naci sino para quereros;

Mi alma os ha cortado a su dedida;

Por hábito del alma misma os quiero.

Escrito está en mi alma vuestro gesto;

Yo lo leo tan solo que aun de vos

Me guardo enesto.

Quanto tengo confiesso yo deveros;

Por vos naci, por vos tengo la vida,

Y por vos é de morir y por vos  muero.

I was born to love only you;

My soul has formed you to its measure;

I want you as a garment for my soul.

Your very image is written on my soul;

 Such indescribable intimacy

I hide even from you.

All that I have, I owe to you;

For you I was born, for you I live,

For you I must die, and for you

I give my last breath.

~ Garcilaso de la Vega (1503-1536)






Here is this lovely poem set to music by OSU's own new Director of Choral Activities, Z. Randall Stroope.

If I could be anywhere, doing anything...

 

...this is what I'd be doing.

Love thy neighbor

In the last several weeks I have joined the millions of other Americans working with President Obama in the effort to reform our broken health care system, and in the midst of the debate I am amazed and appalled by the lack of compassion exhibited by so many Americans for the plight of others, their friends and neighbors who lack health insurance, have insufficient health insurance, and those who don't have access to even the most basic health care because of a lack of insurance and/or the means to pay for it.  How could we have allowed this to happen in this great nation?  And why are so many so reluctant to do anything about it?

I found the following quote from a poster on YouTube last night and it pretty well sums up my feelings on this issue.

Incredible, absolutely incredible.  How can America ever be great again when it's people are so ready to let their fellow citizens perish?  If this is derailed under the auspices of cost, the U.S. as a world power is toast.  The U.S. dollars that so many of you are so greedily clenching to your chests will be about as good as toilet paper once the inflation from dealing with the economic effects of an unhealthy, uneducated populace really starts to set in. Human rights aren't negotiable.