March Madness

An old love song by the Oak Ridge boys contains these lines: It takes a little rain to make love grow…where the sun always shines there’s a desert below…it takes a little rain to make love grow.

searchI think these lines apply to life as well as to love. March at my house had quite a bit of rain of both the literal and figurative kind. We had a leak in the roof of the sunroom that damaged a window casing, dirtied the floor, and ruined some of the pillows on the sofa I keep in there. It’s fixed now but supervising the repairs left me little time for reading this month.

It’s just as well, as I’ve been feeling unsettled these past weeks, waiting for news about a new book I’m working on, and making decisions about how to launch Mrs Lee and Mrs Gray which comes out in June. And I have been profoundly saddened by the death of one of my favorite writers, Pat Conroy. He was such an example to me of how to treat one’s fans and readers. He genuinely cared for them and they loved him for it. At his funeral last month the church overflowed with his family and friends and with people who knew him only through his work, and who wanted to say goodbye.

He was the quintessential son of the South, our own Prince of Tides.The world is a darker place without him in it.

Here’s to a happier April!