Hello, Boston! I am in you. The reading is sold out (holy crap, y’all) but you can still come for the signing and standing room is available outside where they’ll be playing the audio of the reading. Come?
Thank you again for all your amazing support. Thank you for being there. I just found out that Furiously Happy is on the NYT bestseller list for the 3rd week in a row and that’s because of you guys. So many people show up at these readings having heard of the book from y’all and are almost as grateful about finding this strange and amazing community as I am.
Next stop? Toronto!
Click here for the rest of the tour.
PS. Hailey and Victor are flying in for the weekend because I can’t do two full weeks without seeing them. Anything we shouldn’t miss in Boston?
Mikes Italian bakery. Have a cannoli.
Museum of science. She’d love it, trust me!! Best museum ever. I also really like the “spooky” Dark Side of Boston tours which aren’t actually scary but you hear about diseases and body snatching but the themes there can get a bit risque so I’m not sure if that’s a Hailey-approved activity or not. Duck boat tours are fun, too. She could get a turn to drive it in the water so that’s always good. But mostly MUSEUM OF SCIENCE. Ooh also the isabella stewart gardner museum is pretty cool
The Aquarium. Because. Penguins! They have a room full of them.
Also, I finally get to see you in person tonight and I am SO excited!!
Do the duck tour. You seem like the type that would enjoy the opportunity to drive an amphibious vehicle.
Jenny!! Welcome to Boston!! Take your picture (and/or Haliey’s) on the Make Way for Duckings sculptures in the Public Garden, Faneuil Hall Marketplace is historic and fun. I agree about Mike’s Pastry if you can make it over there and you like canolis but I prefer the rum cake. If it’s possible to get out for a drive, the foliage is really lovely today. Avoid the Regatta, too many people. If you have all the time in the world, Newburyport is very beautiful and worth the trip for foliage, architecture, ocean views and quintessential New Englandy-ness. So glad you are here in October and not February, give your book tour organizer a high-five.
My apartment. I have a twelve pack of beer. But see the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, its gorgeous.
Duck tour is great! Explore the Boston Public library, there are all kinds of books to find.
Thank you for writing and sharing and being here even when you don’t want to be.
North End but not Mike’s bakery they’re way over rated. Go to Modern pastry instead. Or get a black & white cookie at Lyndells. They’re amazing. The museum of science is awesome. Take Hailey there. Walk around the Public Gardens & the Boston common & find the make way for ducklings statues. Check out some of the old cemeteries. Mother goose is buried in the Granary one. Head of the Charles is this weekend too. That’s a giant boating event with the colleges rowing on the Charles River. It’s a beautiful time of year to be here, enjoy!!
Walk The Freedon Trail for history. thefreedomtrail dot org Go to The Union Oyster House for my favorite Bloody Marys. Ask if you can sit in JFK’s booth upstairs. Oldest restaurant in Boston.
Mike’s Pastry in the North End and the aquarium!
Go to Top of the Hub for a drink. It’s at the top of the Prudential Center and has the best views of Boston.
Hi. Sooooo…. you’re going from Boston to Toronto. You must be passing through Buffalo. Any chances you could stop here? We have book stores. And chicken wings. And lots and lots of cookie (kooky) people.
Agreed about modern pastry – way better cannolis than Mike’s!
Harvard museum of natural history has taxidermy galore. See it!
If you have the option to get out of the city, hit up an apple orchard. Honey Pot Hill in Stow is my personal favorite.
I’m wickid excited that you’re here!
Head over to Fenway Park to visit Tasty Burger! It’s a former gas station at the corner of Boylston and Yawkey Way that has been turned into a wicked cool restaurant with the BEST burger I’ve ever had. I live about 25 miles away and I make up excuses to go to Boston just for a Tasty Burger. Make sure you visit the bathroom where writing on the walls is not only allowed, but encouraged. ‘The Bloggess Was Here’ is the first thing I’m going to look for when I get another Tasty Burger.
P.S. Fenway Park has tours that are like a religious experience–kind of what I imagine the CHURCH OF BLOGGESSIANISM might look like. 😉
Oooooh! You’ve got to do a Duck Tour! Just make sure you go to THE REAL Duck Tour, not the other one. http://www.bostonducktours.com/ Ask for the most demented driver they’ve got. The tour of the city is always nice, but the DRIVER is what makes the Duck Tour experience so memorable!
Make sure you pick up your own duck calls at the souvenir stand BEFORE you board–at least for you and Hailey to use. I suspect Victor will find them as ridiculous and embarrassing as my husband does.You’re going to kick yourself if you don’t have one to use on the tour!
P.S. It’s going to be chilly throughout the day, so make sure you’re dressed for it!
I wish I could come. 🙁 I’ve committed to taking two teenagers to see “Newsies” tonight in Hartford, CT.
This weekend is the Head of the Charles Regatta. Wander around Harvard Square, visit the Museum of Science, walk the Freedom Trail…
Aquarium and take a Duck tour!
All of the above options are good, but knowing you and your penchant for taxidermy you might want to check out the Harvard Museum of Natural History. They also have a very cool collection of gems, an exhibit of flowers made of glass (it is much cooler than it sounds) and other interesting displays.
See if you could get into the Medieval Manor. Great show!
I’m wickid excited that you’re here!
Head over to Fenway Park to visit Tasty Burger! It’s a former gas station at the corner of Boylston and Yawkey Way that has been turned into a wicked cool restaurant with the BEST burger I’ve ever had. I live about 25 miles away and I make up excuses to go to Boston just for a Tasty Burger. Make sure you visit the bathroom where writing on the walls is not only allowed, but encouraged. ‘The Bloggess Was Here’ is the first thing I’m going to look for when I get another Tasty Burger.
Oooooh! You’ve got to do a Duck Tour! Just make sure you go to THE REAL Duck Tour, not the other one. http://www.bostonducktours.com/ Ask for the most demented driver they’ve got. The tour of the city is always nice, but the DRIVER is what makes the Duck Tour experience so memorable!
Make sure you pick up your own duck calls at the souvenir stand BEFORE you board–at least for you and Hailey to use. I suspect Victor will find them as ridiculous and embarrassing as my husband does.You’re going to kick yourself if you don’t have one to use on the tour!
P.S. Fenway Park has tours that are like a religious experience–kind of what I imagine the CHURCH OF BLOGGESSIANISM might look like. 😉
P.P.S. It’s going to be chilly throughout the day, so make sure you’re dressed for it!
Science museum and the duck tours (bring a coat though…it was nice in the 90s but I’d bet the 50s are a bit brisk. The aquarium is super expensive but really cool (they have nautili (or whatever the plural of nautilus is)). We didn’t stay for the live show outside but spent a few hours wandering around the tanks (the glowy jellyfish were pretty cool too).
Dang, I just looked at your itinerary, and that looks amazingly daunting. I’m impressed! Have fun in BAH-ston.
I can’t believe I’m going to miss you again! Someday, though, and you’ll meet me and see how alike we are, and we’ll become fast friends and bond over frozen mudslides (like an ice cream sundae meets a chocolate milkshake and has a threesome with liquor). It’ll be glorious.
So happy for you! You earned this (the hard way). Good luck and stay safe – the world needs people like you!
The Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner in Brookline is pretty much the best book store ever invented. I like to hang out there for hours on end exploring and finding new literary adventures to take.
The Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner in Brookline. It’s the most amazing, magical bookstore ever and I love to disappear there for hours looking for my newest literary adventure.
I second Modern Pastry! Cannolis are SO GOOD! If you go to the Union Oyster House near Faneuil Hall, you’ll have some of the best CHOWDAH in town, and also be able to say that you’ve eaten in the oldest restaurant in Boston (started serving food in 1826!). Boston Common and the Public Gardens are also very pretty- and have a lot of quiet spots.
Welcome to Boston! In addition to the other great suggestions here, I’d add a stroll down Charles Street in Beacon Hill. It’s super charming and there are great bakeries, coffee shops and boutiques. The Esplanade along the Charles might be a bit of a gong show with the races this weekend, but it is gorgeous and worth a peek. Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy your visit!
I agree, Duck Tour is fun, but they may be messed up because of the Head of the Charles this weekend… Not worth it if you can’t get on the river. You already found the NE Aquarium and the harbor seals!!
Faneuil Hall is fun, food shopping, people watching. there’s an A Capella competition there Saturday and Sunday.
I LOVE the drawing you posted on Instagram…. It definitely needs to make it to the shop!
I’m coming tonight & I’m so excited! I may act weird so I apologize ahead of time. Places to go: The Aquarium, Faneuil Hall, North End (Modern Bakery is so much better than Mike’s), Freedom Trail, Museum of Science (they have a cool exhibit about the science of Pixar right now).
Mike’s Pastry. Get a cannoli or a cupcake. I’m heading there after the reading- just one T stop away from your signing in Cambridge… Maybe see you there! 🙂
I second (or third, or you know what I mean) the aquarium and the Museum of Science if you haven’t already
Knowing your love of cemeteries, you should check out Boston’s. There’s one in particular, near the harbor, that’s one of Boston’s oldest cemeteries but it was given a make-over in the 19th century to serve as both a graveyard and public park – because why should dead people be the only ones to enjoy a prime piece of real estate? But instead of relocating the existing graves, they only moved the gravestones. So as you walk along the lovely wide paths, you know that you’re probably walking over dead people. And the gravestones aren’t markers so much as indicators – “this person’s around here somewhere.” But it’s in a beautiful, peaceful spot where you can forget you’re in a big city and the gravestones are awesome – old and crumbly with wonderfully macabre and hauntingly lovely carvings and inscriptions.
I visited Boston once about seven years ago and this cemetery is what I remember best about that trip. Highly recommend.
I’ll be there!!!! And don’t go to Mike’s for pastry. Go to Modern. Mike’s is where the tourists go.
Harvard Museum of Natural History (taxidermy galore) followed by Toscanini’s ice cream in Cambridge
We went on a cheesy ghosts and graveyards tour when we were there and it was AWESOME!
Granary burial ground on Tremont St. I know you have an affinity for them 😉
Forget Mike’s and Modern’s Go for Maria’s in the North End, they fill their cannoli’s to order so they’re super fresh (better yet, order the filling separate from the shells — classic riccotta is amazing– and they’ll last that much longer). Also, you’d be super close to Boston’s new Public Market where you can pick up a half dozen super fresh cider donuts (nothing screams fall in NE like cider donuts). There’s also a kids Comic Book Festival in Cambridge this weekend MICE (I think is the name) Might be somethnig your family would enjoy!
FYI here’s the link for the kids day at the comic book festival: http://www.micexpo.org/2015/kids-comics-day/
In a little over an hour I will be on the train on my way to Porter Square Books!! Can’t wait to meet you!!!
Also, Duck Tour for sure!! And Wicked Good Cupcakes in Quincy Market
Oooh, I love the cemetery idea. Are you going to take up a Boston accent? That would be wicked.
Welcome to Boston! I’m so sad I won’t be able to make it in tonight. You’ve come up here the perfect time! So many colors are out! Go apple picking up at Russell’s orchards, walk the freedom trail, eat at the union oyster house and simple sit on the common and people watch. So much history and so much to do!! Enjoy!
Aquarium, Museum of Science, Walk along the Charles
Please don’t go swimming with the sea lions. We don’t need you getting arrested.
https://legacy.countway.harvard.edu/menuNavigation/chom/warren/about.html
3 words: phineas gage’s skull
I am attending your reading and signing this evening. I am bringing you info on Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. It is old, beautiful, large and quiet. I highly recommend it!
Info: http://mountauburn.org/visit/
Mount Auburn Cemetery in the Fall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm-s-w59nDg
(While they do have some organized walks, as shown in the video, most people explore on their own. No need to be part of crowd. 🙂 )
Go to Salem if you can. It’s full of lots of fun, unusual Halloween things in October. There’s a Harry Potter store that only sells wands.
Definitely check out the Gardner Museum if you have time (although if you’re only reading this now, you won’t be able to today) and/or the Aquarium; if you’re having a cannoli jones, my personal favorite is the florentine cannoli at Mike’s, but Maria’s has lots of other yummy old-school Italian pastries that they don’t make much anywhere else. Don’t buy too much, though–I have a boatload of vegan red velvet cupcakes that I’m bringing tonight, enough to keep you AND Victor AND Hailey well-fed and nursing a major sugar buzz!
Am I the only one who still hasn’t received their signed bookplate?
The Make Way for Ducklings statue. The Duck boats are awesome(and driving one is really really fun. I speak from experience), I also second/third/fourth getting a duck call because you HAVE to quack at people while on the tour.
The Museum of Fine Arts is lovely. I do prefer the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum however. I suspect you and she would have gotten along, with your eclectic collections. It’s awesome. Also it was the site of one of the most audacious and stunning art heists ever.
I have fond memories of the Children’s museum. And it’s really for the child at heart too. ;D But the Science Museum is cool as well.
The dizzying array of food choices at Quincy Market and a walk on the Freedom Trail is very Boston especially if the weather stays nice and New England-y. The Granary Burying Grounds is on Tremont Street, lots of patriots there. They do a tour that starts on the Common and goes to Fanueil Hall, takes in the burial grounds, the state house, the site of the Boston Massacre(which is a roundabout now). Paul Revere’s House and the Old South Church for the classic Revolutionary places. And you’d be in the North End for Italian…gotta go Italian in the North End.
I recommend trying Boston Cream Pie at the Parker House Hotel(they invented it) but the dessert place Finale is also awesome. Best birthday dessert I ever had…http://finaleboston.com/
If you have to have a steak…Abe and Louie’s on Boylston is really good. Crab cocktail, an enormous baked potato(like a football!) and their creamed spinach with a steak…ummm. It’s also near the end of the Marathon route, so you can say you crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon. http://abeandlouies.com/
Window shopping on Newbury Street is fun, very trendy.
Cemeteries and Paul Revere’s House, which sounds like an odd choice, but it’s soooooo unexpectedly creepy.
Cemeteries and, weirdly, Paul Revere’s house, which was unexpectedly creepy.
If you have access to a car, head to Salem! Or go to Newbury Comics. Check out the Freedom Trail – there’s a great old cemetery near Paul Revere’s house. And you can visit the USS Constitution – aka Old Ironsides – which was built by an ancestor of mine. 🙂 Can’t wait to meet you tonight!
Um, trust this PNW gal when I say skip the duck boat. Too soon.
Honestly, when you’re in Boston, what you really shouldn’t miss is NH, especially at this time of year. It’s GORGEOUS.
Get apple cider doughnuts at the Boston Public Market and then wander the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Visit the graveyard in the corner of Boston Common. Be friendly to people, because that will totally freak New Englanders out. (I’m a transplanted Texan so I speak from experience.)
JP Licks ice cream in Davis Square on the Red Line!
Tomorrow is day 2 of “Head of the Charles” regatta so the river is teeming with the crowds. Fun to watch for about half an hour if you can stand the crowds. The Mount Auburn Cemetary is a stunning garden Cemetary in Cambridge/Watertown. There are small ancient cemeteries in the North End near the old churches. Missed the signing but I’m listening to your audiobook version of “Furiously Happy” – loving it.
You are amazing doing all that you do. I’m so happy for you.
Welcome, welcome, Jenny and family! We are wicked excited to have you here — and you’re just in time for peak foliage! All the recommendations above are great — you can’t go wrong with any of them. I hope you all have a wonderful time in our gorgeous city.
What a frigid weekend to be in New England, but regardless it is beautiful! I’m in NH, we had sleet today, yuck!
On another note, I have not yet picked up a copy of your book (can’t really afford to right now), but I love the quote on this post. I’m at a time in my life where I need to be reminded that it’s okay to be broken sometimes. Thank you for being brave and speaking for those of us that just can’t do it. You make us a little more brave, even if we can’t share our secrets with friends, let alone the world. Your honesty is refreshing and inspiring, so just thank you! And enjoy Boston!
MIT museum! Weird little kinetic sculptures, laser displays, brainiac art and science history. It’s fast, cheap, and out of control, you might say…and flies mostly under the tourist radar.
Isabella Stuart Gardner museum is gorgeous, the courtyard is oneof my favorite things in the world. The chocolate buffet at the Langham hotel is fantastic!
Thanks so much for coming to visit us in Boston! It was so nice to meet you and say hello after all this time reading your blog!
I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here, and have safe travels back to Texas!
Second on Harvard’s Natural History Museum, Freedom Trail, and North End. I’d also add my favorite cemetery is Mt Auburn in Cambridge: beautiful and lots of interesting historical graves (Longfellow, Emmerson, the lady who founded Christian Science, and lots more). Enjoy!
All good suggestions but the Harvard Museum of Natural History idea is brilliant. Lots of taxidermy plus the glass flowers are truly something special. It’s free on Sundays so it does get crowded so it’s best to go right when it opens. Hi-Rise bakery around the corner on mass ave has great coffee and sandwiches.
See you in Toronto!!!!!! I’m super excited. I’ve been reading Furiously Happy out loud to my bf who has been secretly loving it.
Oh, Jenny, I hope you’re finding moments here and there to soak in these cities. Even if it’s a brief walk around your hotel or coffee in a great restaurant. What an adventure you’re on . . .
Congratulations, Jennifer! I loved the trailer for your new book. I still have to get to the store and buy it. Looking forward to it!
Not in Boston, but I think you’d love Salem!
I love Boston. I love just walking around the North End – tons of great little grocery stores and bakeries and little old Italian men sitting in the shops drinking their espresso or cappuccino. You can’t go wrong eating there and you won’t be bored with what you see.
Walking around Cambridge is completely different. Lots of women with long gray hair and unshaved legs. When I saw two women dressed beautifully, with their hair done and wearing makeup and red lipstick, I didn’t even have to hear them to know they were speaking Spanish. Latina women do not slum.
Definitely Duck tour; bundle up especially the ears. Maybe avoid the Regatta. Or Victor and The H-Girl could check it out while you work? Museum of Science is so much fun! OMG, yes.
Personally, I am a huge fan of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. They have these windows into restoration projects that are wicked interesting and informative. If y’all do wonder in, be sure to check out the massive John Singer Sargent painting http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/the-daughters-of-edward-darley-boit-31782 of three daughters and the vases. Then check out the original vases from the painting standing outside the painting IRL. It’s a lovely place; the energy is quiet and bright. No taxidermy, but they do have sarcophagi. Sarcophaguses? Dead people’s stuff.
All of you may want to grab a map of all the galleries on your way in so you can argue about which way to go while stumbling onto amazing things you really didn’t mean to see. And the map is also very useful if you decide to run away from people by ducking through the nearest door.
I so wish I was able to meet you! My goal is to be able to make it to your next book signing… So, take your time? Or hurry. I’m not sure and indecisive…. And redundant.
Whatever you decide to do, stay warm and enjoy! xoxo
You must go to the museum of bad art!! I am pretty sure it would be right up your alley. It is in a movie theater in Somerville: http://www.museumofbadart.org
You must, must, must check out the museum of bad art. It’s amazing and right up your alley!! http://www.museumofbadart.org
The aquarium, of course! I’d also recommend getting out of Boston and heading either Plymouth Plantation or Salem (which goes hard for Halloween all month long!). The MFA and Museum of Science are also good, but I’m just a Boston-adjacent person who hates going into Boston.
Fabulous 🙂
Still can’t believe I’m going to miss you in Toronto.
Again.
I can’t catch a break…
What to see in Boston? Everything. (I love Boston.) What else? Visit Quahog, if you get the chance.
http://www.andbythatimean.com/#!Living-in-Quahog/cmbz/561d95ba0cf297bd6862a1dc
The maparium at the Christian Science plaza! It’s a 2 story stained glass globe and get some cannoli from Mike’s!
Damnit, I’m late. For my anxiety peeps, Boston has a great arboretum – perfect for when you need quiet in the city.
Jenny it is so awesome the book is on the NY Best sellers list for the third week…I am so happy for you…furiously happy…
Sara at #62 comment.
If you will contact me at vickiwebster66 at earthlink dot net, I would like to get you a copy of Jenny’s book. i think that her book is too important for anyone to have to wait until they can afford it.
Agree with the Isabella Stewart Gardener museum and the taxidermy at Harvard. I’d throw in a vote for the MIT museum, which is amazingly cool but small enough not to take up too much time. I have seen and geeked out over Phineas Gage’s skull (and the tamping iron that got blown through it) on an arranged tour, and if you can get to see it it’s well worth it; but I’m not sure it’s open to the public.
If you like Chinese food, the food in Chinatown is AWESOME.
Oh my goodness just reading through your blogs, and never laughed so much in forever. Where have you been all my life??????
I don’t know about Boston but there’s a few good places in Toronto. I’m Lookinf foward to seeinf you here tomorrow
You’ll arrive in Canada the day after our Federal Election – here’s hoping that you aren’t welcomed by a Conservative government! Wish I could get to Toronto to see you. 🙂
So sorry I wasn’t able to see you Saturday night, but I’m working two jobs to support my terminally ill husband and our two kids, and couldn’t go. Your new book is fantastic and your first book has been a beacon of light on several dark days. I’ve had a hard time getting my head around reading with everything going on at home, but you crack me up when I would otherwise be crying…thank you Jenny. Best to you and yours.
Greetings Jenny, and a warm welcome to Toronto from MHPSO (Mental Health Peer Support Organization)! You might not have time to read this before the Toronto reading at Indigo tomorrow night, yet if you have a few minutes we’d love to come over and say hello. Ten people from MHPSO will be attending your reading, and while our incredible founder is unable to join us, some other lovely folks will be in attendance. Here is a link to our (still under construction) website:
http://www.mhpso.org/about/group/
We’re a Meetup.com group, yet all of our group postings are private to protect our members. MHPSO is an extremely well-run and incredibly powerful little group, and we’re affiliated with the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario (MDAO). We’re in the process of applying for charitable status, and we’re still learning the ropes of fundraising and promotion.
Hoping that you have a safe and wonderful journey to Canada, and we hope to see you tomorrow night!
Warmly,
Klaudia, Kourosh, Helena, Joeddi, Mark, Kristine, Eric, Anita, Brendan and Gail
P.S. This is a link to our Meetup.com page, for what it’s worth:
http://www.meetup.com/Mental-Health-Peer-Support-Organization/events/226047240/?eventId=226047240&a=cr1_grp&rv=cr1
my friends and I love you sooooooo much that we are making the trek down to Seattle from Vancouver to see you. Screw work, kids, husbands, cooking, etc… they can all wait!!! Mamma needs to get a pic with a dead raccoon and to meet her kindred spirit!!! Really wish you were coming to Vancouver… Save that location for your next book!!!
Before you come to San Francisco in December, I want to get you a gift card for Munchery so you can have a meal delivered to your hotel room instead of being too nervous to leave your hotel in a scary neighborhood again. (All the fancy hotels in the wrong places, honestly, I don;t know who designed this town.) Thing is, I need some sort of address to send you the gift card. Are you willing to send me a message so I can get that to you? I don’t want you to be scared in San Francisco again but I can totally understand.
(email address is all I need to send it)
I have no idea what to do in Boston but my memories of Boston say it’s a great city to explore so I hope you had tremendous fun there with your family.
Thank you for writing in Furiously Happy about your close encounter with one-third of a giraffe. That was a moment worth sharing. Giraffes now make me laugh. Giraffe laugh attacks are my new weapon of choice against the seasonal downward spiral of doom aka the autumnal equinox.
Toronto has the BSM, the Bata Shoe Museum, at 327 Bloor Street West.
Shoes! In a museum! And not too far from your event at Indigo at Bay & Bloor.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History is a huge red brick building filled with all kinds of taxidermied animals, skeletons, anatomically correct glass flowers, and a HUGE dead bug collection! You should absolutely go there, and they have maps available to print from their website! THEY HAVE A GIANT GROUND SLOTH SKELETON!
P.S. I know a lot of people are saying go to Salem, but I’m from there, and you should definitely not go to Salem in October if you don’t like large crowds and pushy people in costumes trying to shove flyers and pamphlets into your hands. Also, the food is overpriced and most of the witch stuff is really, REALLY lame.
I’m so glad you made it to Boston, and that you stayed to sign everyone’s book! I was towards the end of the line and you were still super nice even though you must have been exhausted.
It was so great to meet you in Boston! Attending this event was my birthday gift to myself & was the best gift I got. Already wish you were coming around again! 🙂
Aw, we missed you! Hope you had a nice time in Boston, and who knows: we might catch you in another city. Really like Furiously Happy- you write so well about such difficult things, and always manage to leave me with laughter-tears in my eyes.
I second Talia’s comment (#96)! I was also at the Boston reading, right about the same point near the end of the line, and was the person who would only ask for a with-selfie picture if you posed showing how you TRULY felt, as you had posed so perfectly for the 100+ people before me, with that great bright smile (and tiptoes!)… And you surprised me by not slumping down and posing as tired, cranky, bored, scared, anxious or anything similar. You wanted to show that you were FURIOUSLY HAPPY. And you did. We both had the F.H. hands (sort of like jazz hands, but more claw-like). Thanks you Jenny!! (I can send the pic if you want it…)
I was also the one who asked at that reading about how many therapists you had gone through before you found ‘the one,’ as I am going through that process right now… for the umpteenth time, it seems. I even had one shrink who stopped our visits at #3 because HE felt we just weren’t right for each other. Now, tell me THAT is not a kick in one’s depression panties. I can appreciate his actions now, years later. But at the time, it was just another rejection… 🙂
You’ll probably never see this among the avalanche of people wishing you well, but I wanted to add my own….and my thanks…Thank you for sharing yourself, and your struggles, and for finally convincing me that “just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t real”….which relates to so much in my life. I intended to bring my daughter to see you in Boston. I had it on my calendar. I took off from work. And then I couldn’t even…with driving to the train, with buying a ticket, with the platform and the train and switching trains and the crowds and the bookstore and waiting and the crowds and most of all getting to see you in person. I wanted to so badly. I am so sad that I didn’t because I always wanted to meet Kurt Vonnegut because something he wrote that I read in 2nd grade stabbed me right in the heart, filleted me open and made me realize someone else understood, and then he died and I never got to meet him, and of course I will have other opportunities to meet you but…..I was thrilled you were coming to down and I was so ready to go meet you, but I just couldn’t. And I’m so so so sad. So thank you for crap scrabble, and acrobatic possums and murderous swans and metal chickens and everything else. Thank you for you.
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