Wistful

Tried to flip my thoughts this morning as I wistfully looked at Living Danishly: I stay close to work. I do not work nor will I probably ever work as hard as my single parent grandmother did etc., etc.

Very often, I remember something my grandmother told me when I talked about a difficult week that I'd had. She said sweetly and convincingly -- I'm sure that it was nothing that you couldn't handle. She didn't say it in an offhand or dismissive way but more of a You're smart; you've got this...I believe in you way...

Went to yoga after work and saw several people that I hadn't see in a while. Several asked where I had been. It's a fair question as I've only been to the yoga studio four times this month.

One of things that the author of Living Danishly learns right away is that it's not easy being an immigrant. Now, imagine being a refugee.

When I was on Instagram yesterday, saw author Dani Shapiro's post; she gets under my skin, sometimes, with her melancholy.

Life is full of so many befores and afters. When I was younger, I used to believe that our lives contain only one shock, one loss, one dividing line. In fact, my memoir Slow Motion begins with those very words: before and after. A friend just sent me this photo of @mmaren and me taken at a birthday bash in LA just a couple of months ago. At this moment his father is still alive. We’re waiting to hear about @j_maren’s college news. We’re on the edge of our seats about @mmaren new film. Oh, time. How you do your work, boldly, unrelentingly. How you present us with gauntlets and gifts. There is pain, to be sure. And also beauty, joy, relief, love. A long, linked chain of befores and afters. #writer #writing #writersofinstagram #writerslife #memoir #fiction #memory #slowmotion #brithdayparty #losangeles #independentfilm #collegeacceptance #tbt

A post shared by Dani Shapiro (@daniwriter) on Jan 25, 2018 at 6:06am PST