AT LEAST IN THE CITY SOMEONE WOULD HEAR ME SCREAM

I met my favorite author, Wade, Rouse, this past week. What a thrill. Last December I picked up a copy of At Least In the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream at the library because it was written by a Michigander. One of the blurbs on the book jacket said something about the author surviving the snows of Michigan winter in Saugatuck. Saugatuck?! My thoughts were, “What a Wimp.” I’ve survived two winters of snow in the Michigan’s Upper Peninsular on Lake Superior where the snow starts in August and, maybe, ends in May. On a whim I took the book home. It was December, cold and dark outside, I needed books to read.

After reading just a few pages I was laughing so hard tears were running down my face. I was laughing so hard, the laugher was causing me to have coughing fits. It was December, coughing is part of life. As I read the rest of the book, I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. I rolled on the floor with laughter. I read with one hand holding the book and my other arm holding onto my stomach as I laughed. As our Mississippi cousin would say, “I laughed so hard my jaw teeth almost fell out.”

However by the end of the book I realized I had stopped chasing my dream. I have written three unpublished cookbooks fill with great recipes and family stories. In the early 1990’s I had tried to get the first one published. I received good comments, but that was the start of the era of the chef cookbooks.

Wade’s hilarious book is about making dreams reality. In the autumn before I read his book I spent a week thinking I had a terminal disease and eating all the doughnuts I wanted. I wasn’t leaving this life as I had lived it---dieting.

I regretted that I hadn’t done more with my 50 years of collecting recipes, knowing full well the kids would shovel them into a dumpster. I also regretted I hadn’t put names on all the family pictures in the basement.

My tests came back negative and I was left with a twenty pound weight gain that I referred to as my terminal doughnut weight and a tiny nagging voice deep in my mind saying, “It’s later than you think, get off your bottom and do something, anything, don’t just sit there and think about it.”

After reading Wade’s book, the little voice gained in volume and became impossible to ignore as it had developed a shrill shrieking tone. Three months later Michigan Cottage Cook hit the internet. Thank you Wade and Gary.

You notice there is not a picture of Wade, Gary and I, just a picture of the cover of his book. I thought it would be too gauche to take a camera to the meet the author event. At the end of the gathering, Wade signed books and Gary greeted people. When everyone else was snapping pictures, I waited in line to have my book signed. Me, extremely shy person, standing in line, felt the stress adrenalin flowing. By the time is was my turn to greet Wade, I grabbed him in a big bear hug, told him I loved him and that he was responsible for making me a blogger. Then I did the same thing to Gary. Me without stress adrenalin-too gauche to take a camera. Me on adrenalin—bear hugs for all. I hope they have recovered from the shock of me.