jame richards: Not Sorry to Hear Some Good News

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Not Sorry to Hear Some Good News

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it is just a hint of a glimmer of hope and you have to get out a magnifying glass and squint really hard to see it, but here it is: Unintended Use Restores the Gift of Hearing. (Boston Globe)

Someday, when I get a memoir-ish manuscript together, you will all read about the genetic tumor (suppression) disorder that affects my husband's family. A mild strain, but still NF2. (neurofibromatosis type II)

The choices for treatment were limited to 1) rock or hard place, 2) devil or deep blue sea, or 3) the devil you know vs. the devil you don't know. You take your chances based on the odds and whether or not you feel lucky, punk. We felt lucky. And his hearing was preserved, very close to perfect speech discrimination, in that ear.

But ears come in pairs...

1 comments:

Wabi Sabi Knitter said...: So glad to hear good news. Wonderful! And so is your picture! School's out for summer (almost) now I can keep up!; July 14, 2009 6:03 PM

Post a Comment

Three Rivers Rising

(Knopf, 2010)

Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania 1888-1889

Three Rivers Rising includes a forbidden cross-class romance between a guest and a hired boy at the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, site of the dam that burst in 1889, flooding the valley below. The main characters are in the city of Johnstown when the wave hits and piles debris at the Old Stone Bridge, damming up the water once again. The city of Johnstown is under water and the debris at the bridge is on fire. Each thinks the other is dead. Will they find each other? Survive? Endure being disowned by their families?

Winner of the PEN New England Children's Book Caucus 2008 Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award

Frances-isms past

Regarding the cover of Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush showing a fallen angel: "Why is it a man in pants?"

To her "cookie medicine"---liquid Allegra---while sneezing: "Even though you taste good, I DON'T forgive you!"

Guest post from the archives:
Grace, age 3, pointing at the big brick library: "I wanna go to that Book Church."

"I'm going to be a teacher when I grow up. And maybe a writer in case it doesn't work out."

"Look at Grace and me---we're the perfect setting."

Circles under the eggs in her drawing:
"Those are the boil bubbles."

The music teacher has so many recorders:"She has a whole colony of interest-mints!"

"Can you please be friends with Daisy Meadows and Erin Hunter so we can meet them and they can come over."
(Death to whoever tells my kids that Daisy Meadows is four people and Erin Hunter is three! They live in the U.K.---that's why we can't meet them.)

Looking at a watch on each wrist:
"I have two kinds of clocks. Digital and eggnog."

"I'll finish this lickety-quip. Before you can say lippy-clippy-jippy-gibbety!"

"You smell like funny."

"I'm hungry."
"Well, you've got gum."
"Gum is just a lotta chewy nothing."

"Do you think the Shadirondacks will like my hair this way?"

"Fun is my friend!"

Angel Food: "Chocolate cake and Peppermint Salad."

"H.R. Puffinstuff looks kinda weird: he's half alligator and half pumpkin."

Flying dreams: "I think you soul goes out and comes back and builds a room inside your body to watch TV. Then it relaxes and eats some Coke."

Guest quote: G-Belle, age 9:
"The storm just keeps chattering on about death."

That doesn't sound like jelly---jelly's more blobbery!"

"This is the diseasiest summer!"

"I froak out!" (past tense of freak out)

Want some baby spinach?"Nah, that's too dinnery."

"You guys have all the gadgets and gibbers!"

"Look out World, there's a new reader in town!"

Renames Baird: "Beauford."

"Whoa, what smells?" Sticks head in day-old Happy Meal bag. "It smells like rotting cheese."

"Mommy, would you warm me up like the ginger cookie?"

"Wait...I've got a chlorine burp."

"My boo-boos are like Armoured Hot Dog beans!"

"That guy shouldn't be No-Helmet riding! And with bald hair!"

"I have four possessions. Do you want to know what they are?
1. baking
2. cooker
3. ice skating
4. roller skater
Those are my career, my four possessions."

To her sister: "Pay attention to the woman! It's her big day!"

Me: How does your stomach feel?
F: Fizzy...

On why the neighbor boy is crying:
F: "He's just jealous of himself for no apparent reason."
(That can't be right---she must have heard wrong.)
Me: "(Neighbor boy), why are you crying?"
NB: "I'm just jealous of myself for no apparent reason."

On why pregnant women shouldn't drink alcohol:
"Because then the baby will be like, 'ewww! Wine is falling on me!'"

"kind of-ish"

"I will invent the jetpack---THIS I SWEAR!!"

"Your hair looks like...yogurt."

"I'm gonna have a gold jetpack!"

"Cough out your mind."

Mother's Day Card:
"See the dog.
The dogs has moms.
The dogs jump."

Teacher Appreciation Card:
"See the cats.
The cats has moms.
The cats jump."

"It's my middle-name month!"

"Maybe they should make Frances Nuggets and they'll be shaped like ME!"

First sentence written: "See the cat."

Second sentence written: "See the fat cat lemon."

"Dogs have clumsy hands." (on why we humans need to do stuff for them)

Mom: "How did you grow up to be such a sweet kid?"
F: "I was just born with flowers on my brain!"

"You said 'later,' and now is 'later.'"

"Someone's always changing my talking moment!"

"Reading" Kevin Henkes Old Bear:
"...Bears eat other bears, when they're mean to them...
He saw that his whole world was covered with fluffy snow. And he yelled...in delight. There was a soft comfy bed for him to sleep in...
He yawned...his fierce teeth scared the hunters away!"

"I'll still love you when I'm an old lady...I'm gonna love you even when I'm a skeleton!"

To mom, "You're my best friend...when nobody else is here."

"Why don't we order dinner from some Chinese people?"

"Pluto is such a lonely little planet."

"When I get near a shower, it gives me a great sing!"

"I pronounce Mommy the Queeeeen of Writing! And she's riding a unicorn across a rainbow!"

"I want God to say 'Yes' to me."

"Why do my socks smell like sombreros?"

Hall of Fame:
driving down the big hill with a sudden dip in the road:
"That makes my pee go silly!"

"Which color is the BARFest?"

Counting the days until her birthday: "The oneth, the twoth, the threeth, the fourth, the fiveth, and the sixth!"

"Did you know that Grace was going to be so pretty?"

"His mom had a grayish shirt and hazelnut hair."

"What? We like to play together, even though I hate Gracie."

While the doctor and I are talking talking talking in his office:
"Excuse me, um, I think there might be some other people out there waiting to see you."

"When the flowers have all gone away...the ant tells his weather cousin...to make it sunny again...so the tulips come back."

Not knowing where my childhood teddy bear is:
"I don't keep track of old people's stuff."

On winter trees: "They just sit there...balder and balder hair."

"Please stay out of my own talking!"

"I'm bored of what I'm doing. I wanna be a servant."

"I got hit with a clumpy!"
"What's that?"
"That little dot on your face when somebody sprays while they're talking to you."

"I wanna talk about robbers."
"Ok."
"I have a lot of thoughts about robbers."
"Ok."
"Robbers don't go out in the day time...because they wear all-black suits...and that's all they have."

"Daddy? Do you still have a wee bitty cold?"

Chasing her sister with a whole wheat fig bar: "Gracie, come an' get a prune-y!"

Delegating, with an air compressor and an inflatable sled in hand: "Mom, can I use your car?...I'm not gonna drive it!"

Trying to get her to sound out words:
"My voice is kinda itchy. You read it."

"Why's it so quiet? I'm sorry my pages are kinda loudy."

"Maybe BROCKOBAMA is eating lunch right now, too...
I ate the BROCKOBAMA cookie* and BROCKOBAMA's gonna be our new president soon."

*Before the election a bakery in Boston made ballot cookies with each candidate's photo.

Mom: I think I'll have a TaB.
FM: No.
Mom: What do you mean "no"?
FM: You need to take a break on that.
Mom: What are you my doctor? Who told you that?
FM: Barack Obama...Barack Obama said...

"How do you get these meatballs so crispy, and steamy, and brown?"

"I can't hear you...because I'm not listening."

Driving by a church at Christmas...
Dad: "Look, it's a reindeer made of lights."
FM: "Look, it's God...made of ROCK."

"This Egg-A-Nog is very milkish."

Mom: "You're so cute! Can I eat those cheeks?"
FM: "Sure, get a knife and fork and stab 'em!"

"Mom, you're the biggest heart in the row!"

"The only thing not good was I didn't get to plup the big balloon over the net. Everybody swaggled in the way and wouldn't let me get a turn."

"Bring that big old face over here on these lips."

"I'm glad you cut your hair---it was getting really crumpety."

"This apple juice is so good. It's really in my register."

"Mom is the sweetest pumpkin in the patch."

"Gracie kicked me in the bone."

More than you ever wanted to know about me...

1. I have been to a bachelor party, yet I did not jump out of the cake.
2. I wanted to be an artist when I grew up.
3. I love TaB, and yes, they still make it. I also love Jack Daniels, and yes, they still make it.
4. I think about doing a triathlon, but I hate swimming, am not crazy about bike riding, and am kinda lukewarm about running.
5. I do not want to spend even one solitary second cleaning.
6. I believe you attract what you give your attention to.
7. I am ten years younger than my husband.
8. I can imitate people in person and in writing. I can also do accents.
9. My ancestor went to Congress and signed the Monroe Doctrine.
10. I love almost every food, except beets (taste like dirt, but I love the color). Faves: french fries, pizza, chocolate. Brownies and potato chips are a great combo.
11. I have an alarming stash of yarn trying to take over my home. Keeps growing.
12. I believe writing is what I was born to do.
13. I can find a needle in a haystack...even though my house is messy.
14. I don't have any phobias per se, but I get short of breath when I think about being trapped in a confined space. Especially underwater.
15. I admire my children---I'm honored to be their mom.
16. I realized I was pregnant with Grace the day Franny had brain surgery.
17. I am allergic to grass, trees, dust, mold, cats, penicillin and grocery shopping. Everything makes me break out.
18. I love to read yet I rarely let myself.
19. I want to knit a wool sweater with cables and honeycombs and gussets...and not itch when I wear it. (Then I want to visit the Aran Islands, and write a book set there.)
20. I think about this a lot: what if I were on a deserted island and my glasses were knocked off in the shipwreck...or if I managed to keep my contacts in, great, but they're only designed to last for a month!
21. I see myself editing and/or teaching in some form in years to come.
22. I hate stirring the natural peanut butter---it's like a cardio work out with oil stains.
23. I am becoming increasingly reclusive as I age. It runs in my family. Think about it, when was the last time you saw my parents? Seriously...has anybody seen my parents?!!
24. I am a serial monogamist hobby-wise: pottery, photography, painting, design, gardening...
25. Two of my heroes live within 10 miles of me and I have met them both: Pat Giff and Denyse Schmidt.
26. Like Shelagh, I can pick up things with my feet.
27. I think the only celebrity I've ever seen is Jerry Stiller.
28. I am confident about my apple pies.
29. I think about the pioneers every single day, probably due to the Little House on the Prairie series in my formative years.
30. Also, I think about Anne Frank almost every day, like, if those guys could make dinner out of nothing...I can't complain about running out of frozen nuggets!
31. Contrary to #23, I also do not like that trapped feeling, especially when you're stuck somewhere without snacks or soda. I love being snowed-in, if I have ample supplies. See #30.
32. I can drive backwards.
33. I have never broken a bone.
34. I haven't read Moby Dick.
35. I can tell you what I was wearing at any major moment of my life.
36. I was in my dad's class for mechanical drawing and woodshop! He was tough.
37. Size 10 feet since the sixth grade.
38. Learned to ride a bike when I was 8.

jame richards

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Not Sorry to Hear Some Good News

1 comments:

Frances-ism of the day

Three Rivers Rising

www.jamerichards.com

Class of 2k10

The 10'ers

Class of 2k9

Twitter Updates

Followers

Where to find me...

What I'm Working on Now...

What I'm Reading...

In case you're wondering...

Essays

Frances-isms past

Blog Archive

More than you ever wanted to know about me...