Right now I am on my way home from the last leg of the Furiously Happy book tour, which was filled with giggling adventures, new and old friends, tears and stories whispered in signing lines, terror and anxiety and adrenaline, and a particularly virulent case of food poisoning that left me stranded in Arizona for an extra day. Right now I am weak and tired and relieved and in an airplane beginning its descent home. And I find myself crying, startling the uncomfortable businessman beside me who doesn’t know what to do with this too-pale frizzle haired girl who looks the very picture of a nervous wreck. I explain to him that these are happy tears. Because they are. Not just because the call of home is so near but also because I will miss you. That’s odd to say because I hate traveling, and speaking is scary but I will miss seeing big groups of you, so many of you looking at me with the same scared look reflecting mine -reminding me that I am with people who understand me and will nod if I hide under a table. I will miss your stories and the cool hands on mine as you assure me my panic wasn’t too obvious. I will miss your smiles and stories of people you met in line who are now new friends. I will miss the emails from those who couldn’t make it but still wanted to share their stories, and the handwritten notes given by shaking hands of friends who were too afraid to speak but still managed to proudly make it through the line. I will miss you. But I know that you will still be here, helping me write my next book as you helped me through the last two. I know that even if I don’t see you in person that you are real and important and are in my strange camp of wonderful misfits. I know that I am not alone. I hope you know that too.
As I write this the taxi is nearing my house and all I want to do is melt into my family and couch and furry babies but before that I want to say thank you. Thank you for being my family, both on the road and off. And in a day or so I’ll be back with something lovely for us to do, but until then I wish for you all the love I felt from our amazing, talented, bizarre and far-flung community and I hope you understand how much you mean to me, to our strange tribe, to the world.
Thank you.
Ps. Ignore the typos. This is what happens when you write on your phone after almost no solid food for 30 hours. Also, this is where I’d put pictures but I’m too exhausted so instead I’m linking to Instagram so you can relive the last 3 months of touring with me if you like.
Thank you.