20 Things I’ve Done Since Finishing My Latest Novel
1. I read a ton of books. Only one was awful. I put it down. Now it’s stuck in my head. I hate that.
2. I learned to love gardening. My late mother would be delighted. She had 23 fruit trees, a geometric patio, and a burgundy clematis that now climbs up my trellis.
3. I cleaned off a wood bird house my late father owned. He used to watch a daring squirrel trying to eat the bird seed out of it when he was resting from chemotherapy. He always laughed at the squirrel. That man knew how to appreciate the smallest things in life, even when his life was ending.
4. I spent many hours running (slowly) in the woods. I had a lot to think about.
5. I walked on the beach. Why does the beach make me cry sometimes? I just don’t know. It’s like the waves release the emotions.
6. I loved and laughed with my kids. That’s the most important. Laughing and loving.
7. I hugged my husband more. After 23 years, he’s still huggable.
8. I solved problems. Some big, some small. Some quite painful, some irritating.
9. I continued to build my relationship with my cat, KC, by meowing back at her. She is strange. Or maybe it’s me.
10. I had lunch with my girlfriends. I do not hang out with groups of women, they make me nervous. But I do have really close girlfriends and one or two of them and I will go to lunch or a play together. I think God gave us girlfriends because he knew that our men would sometimes drive us out of our minds, as would life itself.
11. I had long cups of coffee. You know what I mean.
12. I threw stuff out. I can’t stand clutter. Clutter in the house, clutter in the head. My characters take up enough space in my head, ain’t no more room in there for anything else.
13. I decided that I will be a really good retired person.
14. I encouraged my sister to name her new horse Cathy and the new baby horse Marie. I don’t think she’s going to do that. Darn it. What I have learned from the horse loving sister: A life spent giving to others – even the ‘others’ with fur and feathers – is a life worth living.
15. I skied. I ingloriously fell multiple times. I didn’t break anything. I am a terrible skier.
16. I daydreamed.
17. I dealt with a couple of not so nice people. Surely there’s an island where not so nice people can go and live together and be not so nice together and leave the rest of us alone?
18. I decided I really do need to work on being more patient. I’ve got about ten seconds of patience. That is not good.
19. I saw a couple of Van Goghs. You can see his troubled mind so clearly in his paintings. I relate to him.
20. I scribbled in a journal. Finally an idea for a story came to me. Now I have to begin the torture of writing it.
*** What I Remember Most is out in September, 2014.
I Love your blog….
1Thank you, Dana!
2Love it! Glad you had a chance to recharge your batteries. So looking forward to your new book!
3I’m still trying to re charge my batteries. Taking MUCH LONGER this time than usual. Ugh.
4Needs walks and coffee and time with my kids and time strolling on the beach…
What a great list. There’s something there that all of us can relate to. Thanks for sharing Cathy. So anxious for August for your new book! Happiness to you!
5Thank you. There were a few things in there I really needed to see today. I am so excited that a new book will be available soon.
6I am glad it’s coming out soon, too, Sarah Beth. Makes all that endless editing worth it when it’s FINALLY in book form and sitting on my desk…
7We all need constant reminders of how wonderful the little things are in life. This list captures lots of the important ones. When it’s so easy to enjoy the simple pleasures, it’s surprising how few of us manage to do it daily. A splendid personal list here Cathy. All the best with the book release later this year. Looking forward to it.
8Alva, you are right about the simple pleasures.
The big, exciting things come and go in live, infrequently, so I try to love the little things.
Like coffee every morning.
And laughing.
And flowers…
Not to be too much of a sap here, of course!
Hope you like What I Remember Most
9I especially love #17 – wonder what that island would be named – HA!! – they could only have one-way tickets – thanks for your sharing – always makes me smile.
10I think the island should be named, Mean People Island.
You can only get off of it if you’re going to be kind. Otherwise, you get to stay with the palm trees.
11Cathy, I would like to thank you personally and publicly for your book, Henry’s Sisters. In it you expressed feelings that I have felt completely alone with all of my life. My father had a mental illness, recovered, I also did when I was younger, recovered, and so did my son. The attitudes of people (who believe) that they never have experienced mental illness was expressed perfectly by you. Also, the resulting isolation of an affected family by friends who suddenly become busy forever, neighbors and even family… AND the FACT that people DO GET BETTER. THANK YOU Cathy Lamb! You also expressed my anger, something I am no longer ashamed of. I see it as a side effect.
12Believe me I know, as a family member, and licensed counselor. It takes COURAGE to support people with mental illness to people who believe they personally are immune to it. PS I just let my husband read the passage on pages 235 – 236. All he could say was “Wow. WOW!”. I’m so smiling here! And of course I’m going to get all of your other books….still smiling.
Susan,
Thank you so much for your letter. I wanted to create Isabelle Bommarito to, partly, show that people who are struggling with mental illness, can get help, can get better, can be cured, that it is not something that all people have forever. I know many people who have struggled with one form of mental illness or another, their lives improved, they improved, they made changes.
Isabelle Bommarito got better and stronger. She got help when she needed it. Takes strength and courage, and an ADMISSION, of a problem, to get better, all tough things.
Your clients are lucky to have someone who struggled with mental illness and now can share her knowledge and compassion with other people.
13Cathy