Memories

Hey!

First, some news: Arts and Thefts hits stores next Tuesday, February 13. This is the day before Valentine's Day, as well as Mardi Gras. I don't know what to do with this information.

Second, in conjunction with said book release, my launch for Arts and Thefts will be held March 2 at 7 pm at The King's English Bookstore in Salt Lake City.

It will be fun, I hope. I'll do a short presentation including a reading and a Q&A, so hope to see you there!

Anyway, now that I've mentioned that, I want to write a blog post that I've been thinking about for the last week. It's serious and personal, and I debated about whether to write it, and I came down on the decision that it's important for me to do this.

About two weeks ago, my grandmother Mary Alice Yardley Hymas passed away. Here's a picture of her from the program:

Lovely, right?

Anyway, I felt like it was important for me to share some of my memories about my grandmother. I write on this blog about so many things that are important to me, and my family is one of the most important things in my life. So, here goes:

- She would preserve raspberries in jars, and would let us kids eat mounds of them out of bowls with spoons. I think this contributed to my life-long love of raspberries.
- I remember molded soaps at her house. I don't have any special connection with them, other than they were the first place I saw soaps shaped like other things and now molded soaps remind me of her.
- She had about a hundred Kewpie dolls, which were simultaneously interesting and creepy to me.
- Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house meant games. I have a memory of playing Mousetrap (which I loved for the Rube Goldberg machine element) at their house.
- Grandma telling me the story of my ancestor Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged as a witch in Salem. I remember her telling the story and making it very clear that the reason Rebecca was targeted was because she was smart and capable and good. Grandma's voice was firm on that.
- Grandma supplied a lot of the movies I grew up on, like Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella. They were taped and sent over in the mail on VHS tapes. It's still comforting to think of those tapes.
- Every time I visited, she'd ask me about my dating life. I know that's common with grandparents, but I enjoyed how invested she seemed. It was kind of encouraging.
- A more recent memory was after Under Locker and Key was published. I went down to visit my grandparents and they had me sign a bunch of copies to give to friends. As I signed, I noticed that Grandma had stuck a printed copy of the (positive) review of my book in each one. She didn't say anything about it, but I smiled knowing that she was giving her friends the review as well as the book.

Love you, Grandma, and I miss you. Thank you for everything you did for me.