Greetings, friends! When last I wrote, we were gearing up for our vacation to Bethany Beach, Delaware, courtesy of the wonderful Justin W. Jennings Foundation and the amazing beach house they gifted us for one full week. The house was amazing and the weather was absolutely perfect. Right on the tail of a weeklong hurricane-saturated week, we wound up having warm weather and sun all week long! It was really a wonderful week.
We had beach days and bike rides, nice walks and meals, games and laughter and lots of love. We were only one mile from the beach, a straight shot, and so we would ride our bikes down, or just walk down for an afternoon of laying on the beach, reading, shell hunting, and sun basking. Jess and I were joined by some of our kids - Shane, Zach and his girlfriend, Hailey, Logan and Sawyer (who came down for the last two days via a rather inadvertent route that, much to their surprise, put them on a ferry, lol; Logan plugged in non-toll route that took them to the end of the NJ cape and put them on a $50 ferry, lol), and my parents, who drove up from Florida, straight through, because my mom wanted to make sure she was there for my full birthday day.
Bethany Beach, "The Quiet Resort", is a cute, little beach town and was definitely a nice escape. Here are just a few pictures from our trip:
And now, back in NJ, the weather has dipped into the high 50s. The leaves are falling off the trees and the days are way too short. I've started my treatments closer to home, twenty minutes down the road. Chemo every three weeks, with daily pills (twice a day). I've still been feeling a lot better. Slowly, maybe, putting a little more weight on. Jess and I go for walks with the dogs - in fact, we just did about four miles this afternoon along a beautiful woodland road that's been closed to traffic (due to deterioration and collapsing sections) and made into a hiking and biking path. I have a new scan on the 23rd that will show us what progress has been made on the cancer in my body. It's funny, because when I look at these pictures of me, you wouldn't necessarily believe I had cancer. I mean, sure, I'm a lot more on the lighter side of things, but my hair? Still there and thick and in case you hadn't noticed, I've grown one hell of a beard, lol. ;)
In the meantime, we're writing and gearing up for some book events. Jess and I will be signing at "the end" in Allentown, PA in October, and then we're leading an SCBWI workshop at a writer's retreat in Maryland. In November, we'll be going to Orlando, to the SSYRA (Sunshine State Young Readers Award) conference. The Haunted Mustache was selected as one of this year's nominees and I'll be on a panel there. Jess has been working really hard on a few projects, one of which is her new press, Wandering Moth Press, and her forthcoming novel, Monolith. Very exciting! I'm working on the 9th Junior Monster Scouts book (due in December) and my own middle-grade novel, Knowhere. And, as always, we try and take each day as it comes, figuring things out, seeing where this unexpected journey is taking us, and making sure to love, laugh, and live...just like those cheesy platitude signs instruct.
I'll leave you with this quote from a book I'm reading, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin: "There's a reason we are drawn to the ocean. It is said the ocean provides a closer reflection of who we are than any mirror."
- j