Happy birthday, Rachel Field!

             I’d like to introduce you to Rachel Field. She is a talented writer, charismatic speaker, and devoted friend who has become very important to me. She died in 1942. In 1994 Jonathan and I bought her house, the house where Rachel spent all her summers, on an island off the coast of Maine. In 2008, I began researching, then writing Rachel’s life story, which occupied much of my writing life for the next ten years. In spring of 2021, the book will be published at last. It still feels unreal to me. The tentative title is “You’ll Never Be Quite the Same,” but I’m not quite sure yet. It is based on her famous poem that begins, “If once you have slept on an island, you’ll never be quite the same…”
            I’ll never be quite the same, having slept on an island, having enfolded Rachel Field into my life. And then, of course, none of will ever be quite the same, even from one day to the next. Life is change, every day. That’s why this blog has its name. Still, for a book, maybe “If once you have slept on an island” would be better. What do you think? I’d love some gut reactions.
            Rachel Field was born on September 19, 1894. She loved the fact that crickets went into their most ebullient chorus in September. To her, it marked the coming of fall, which she adored. The crickets are singing her birthday song even now. Listen.
 
My 60th year in 60,000 words
Day 23: 248 words, TOTAL = 3511;  56,489 remaining