Tag: hooray

general

dear sugar

abby mumford

today’s the day cheryl strayed’s new book TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS is released into the world.

although, technically, it’s been out there for years now, as this is a compilation of letters from her advice column on the rumpus. i’ve never read an author who is so fearless, so generous, so brave, so compassionate, so gentle, so always says the right thing, or so humble.

you all need to read at least one of her columns. here are some of my favorites to start:

if you’re a writer: #48

how to say i love you: #41

how you get unstuck: #44

on parenting: #74

and that’s just a small sampling of the genius that is cheryl strayed as sugar.

her first column was #27 and it continues today (albeit at a much slower pace since she’s in the middle of a whirlwind with her best selling non-fiction title, WILD) through #98. before column #97, she wrote it anonymously. for two years she gave her heart and soul to those who wrote in, and since her big reveal, she still gives her heart and soul to those who write in. we just now know her as cheryl instead of sugar.

take a moment, read at least one column because you know what?

we are all sugar.

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general

song lyrics + reality

abby mumford

i had already seen fireworks (on june 28th. in somerville. AMAZING, as usual) but when rachael told me she and two of her out of town friends knew of a secret garden rooftop viewing spot, i said yes to more.

there was a small cover charge, a “free” beer, food, drinks, and ample space. we set up camp and ate and drank and chatted as we conducted our countdown until 10:30, the posted start time of the boston fireworks.

conversations and kids floated around us. we parted with our glowing necklaces, beaming at the smiles the kids now wore.

the minutes ticked by slowly. the wind shifted. the temperature dropped. the clouds rolled in. the sky flickered and the buildings around us echoed those bright lights. was it early fireworks? was it a thunderstorm rolling in? was it a heat lightning storm? was it the flash from the cameras around us? all of the above? or none?

slightly nervous at being on the top of a building and potentially turning into lightning rods, we pulled out our smartphones and checked the radar. okay, just E did and she declared, “the storm’s going to miss us.”

i looked up at the swirling, thickening clouds and wondered just how smart that phone and its radar really was. 10:20 came and went. the sky cleared. 10:30 came and went. the smartphones came back out and this time, we checked boston.com.

we looked up at the (now) relatively clear skies over the cambridge side of the river and cried, “are the fireworks canceled?!” we double checked the time stamp on that headline and realized it was from 30 minutes ago. the fireworks would go on, just slightly delayed.

we felt rain drops, small, insistent.

the sky lit up.

and then everything opened up — the sky, the fireworks, our mouths. laughter and cheers and shrieks tore from us as we scrambled to duck under blankets and jackets and umbrellas all while trying not missing a single crack of a firework.

soaking wet, but wearing a grin as wide the barge the fireworks were shot from, i couldn’t help but marvel that just like adele sang, we had set fire to the rain.

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feelings

heat wave

abby mumford

for the first time this summer, the temperatures are rising in the northeast and there’s not much i can do to keep cool other than sit as still as possible and read (and maybe eat ice cream and/or drink very cold beer and/or slurp down some other iced beverages and/or eat flavor ice).

ahem.

where was i? oh yes, reading. here are some of the very cool books i’ve read lately…

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by veronica rossi
ENDER’S GAME by orson scott card
A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL by suzanne young
THE SINGLES by meredith goldstein
**CODE NAME VERITY by elizabeth wein
*WONDER by r.j. palacio
**THE WITNESS by nora roberts
UNRAVELING by elizabeth norris
THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE by jeff hirsch
THE SEARCH FOR WONDLA by tony diterlizzi

and here are the books i’m working on now…

WILD by cheryl strayed
LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD by tamara morgan

and thanks to the GENIUS that is kelly breakey, i’ve got THREE FATES by nora roberts on my kindle (app). i was so blown away by THE WITNESS by nora roberts that i decided she’s probably a bestselling author for a reason. i turned to kelly for some advice on which book(s) i should read next because kel’s not only a voracious reader, but gives great book recommendations when i decide to branch out of the YA genre (hello, PARADISE).

the next thing i know, i’ve got multiple emails from her. one listing four titles and another containing a download gift link to THREE FATES. what the what?!? girl is so generous and so trusting of ms. roberts’s talents, she gave me one of the books she had just recommended.

granted, this method of delivery probably had to do with the constraint that we’re not next door neighbors, but seriously, it was as heartwarming as if she’d knocked on my door and had a plate of chocolate chip cookies in one hand and THREE FATES in the other.

wait, wasn’t i trying to cool down?

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