We have started a long-anticipated journey: a book tour across the country for Autumn Romance: Stories and Portraits of Love after 50, the book I began almost three years ago and published this past January.
The plan was to head west. For five months, my husband Warren and I had been living with his sister Nadyne in St. Louis. There were several couples in the book I’d never met in person and they all lived in stepping-stone states west of St. Louis—so the path seemed clear. We would visit Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Los Angeles and end up in San Francisco for my older daughter’s 40th birthday!
I had never seen much of the U.S. and certainly never done a book tour — so I was filled with trepidations as I cold-called bookstores in the targeted cities. But many were receptive and now very excited, we were off...(stopping one last time at White Castle for burgers and onion rings)...
My great luck: Warren PREFERS to drive. (Did my being a distracted driver influence him? Um, I don't think so...) I sit and dreamily take in the amazing sights. I keep hearing my voice say, “What an incredible country!” Yesterday, I burst out with: “Now I know what “Purple Mountain majesty” MEANS!”
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Driving through Kansas is all flat plains and farmlands (and beautiful). In Kansas City, we stopped in the Rainy Day Bookstore (one of the fabulous independent bookstores scattered like stars across the country) plus I did a reading at a very welcoming Borders. Then we drove to the tiny town of Lincoln (smack in the lower middle of Kansas), where Marguerite and George Miller live. Their story is on page 57 of Autumn Romance.
I met the Millers through a fellow newspaper editor, Jyll Phillips. Two and a half years ago, Jyll picked up an online feeler for more couples and with typical warm generosity, made sure I got in touch with Marguerite and George. When we came to town, she welcomed us into her home.
Lincoln is a fascinating place. It’s so small that volunteers fulfill many jobs that other municipalities would pay. So small that many citizens hold two or three positions. “One gal is the Human Resources Director for the county,” explains Jyll, “and also works part time at the grocery and also cleans a couple of office a week. Another woman works full time at the prison in Ellsworth, manages the VFW Bar and does the books for the Lincoln lumberyard!”
Is it the hard economic times or just contributing to the town’s running well?
Both, says Jyll. “Everybody is connected here, everybody counts.”
“Everybody” is pretty interesting, too. We got to know a bunch of Lincoln’s citizens when the Millers threw a book party in their old-fashioned-on-the-outside, House-Beautiful-on-the-inside home. Definitely magical: seeing George and Marguerite stand with their arms around each other as I read a story from the book aloud to their gathered friends, then talking to those friends in the Sunday late afternoon light. Meeting Joyce Harlow, the talented woman who photographed George and Marguerite for the book (and who also runs the town's Art Center)...
Afterwards, I sat around Marguerite’s kitchen table with a group of women. Life in Lincoln, they agreed, was special. The next morning, we walked the few blocks to Jyll’s office--the Lincoln Sentinel newspaper, on Lincoln’s Main Street. While she held leisurely conversations with each person we ran into, I thrilled to life in this town: almost Twilight Zone back to the 50s,so quiet and unhurried…
And then we were off, headed for Denver, CO.
p.s. You can see lots of photos of this visit on the the Autumn Romance Facebook Fan page!
You are living the American dream...seeing small towns, the backbone of our country, meeting the real people. Big cities are great, culture & all that, but little places, that is what we are made of in the long run. I am jealous of your trip, getting to see America in its glory, but with the sadness too. Another book, I think! Keep blogging, girlfriend..I miss you & our "chats". Love, Bonnie
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