"Life Gone South" comes home!

   I haven't said much about my memoir lately.  Don't want people to be bored out of their gourd from hearing about my blah-dee-blah book.  But this, I've got to tell:  she's here, "Life Gone South" is finally here!
   Let me back up for a minute.  I had bought a proof copy of the book already, but when I got it the cover looked awful, terrible, like something a kid would do when they first get their hands on crayons.  So I changed the cover completely.  Not wanting to spend money on another proof, I gave the final approval for the book based on the way the new cover looked online.  I thought I was fine with that, just having my proof copy with the awful cover.  But I wasn't.  Something kept nagging at me to get the "real" book, the one people can buy on Amazon.  I finally gave in and ordered some on my credit card, decided I would figure out how to pay for it when the bill came.
   Fast forward to last night.  I get home from work and it's dark in the house, since DMan is working his overnight shift, except for a light above the kitchen sink shining on a big box.  My books.  I don't want to rush this moment, so I put my things away, change clothes, unload the dishes from the dish drainer, and finally I can't stand it any more.  I pour up a glass of Graham Beck Pinotage -- a very fine wine for a very special event -- and slice open the box.  I gasp when I see her.  She is beautiful, even just looking at the back cover.  Then I lift her out of the box and can only stare.  The front cover is divine, perfect, from the photo DMan took of me standing in the ocean, to the sky blue and ocean blue background, to the indigo purple type.
   Now I've never been a mother, but I'm guessing I felt the same way a mother feels after she nurtures her baby for nine months and then finally gets to hold it for the first time -- awestruck.  I ran my hands across the slick cover like a mother would her child's smooth head, relished the weight in my hands, held it to my chest, breathed in the smell of the pages.  This was my baby and it was finally real.
   Thanks for reading this and sharing my special moment with me.  I've got to get to work now birthing my next baby, my novel "Life Is A Beach -- After I'm Gone."  She has been inside me for way longer than nine months, and I am more than ready to see her become a real book.  Then maybe I can take a break from having "babies" for a while and actually read a book for fun or have a date with DMan.
   Yall live crrr-azy today and have some special moments for yourselves!