The Kids are All Right: A Memoir by Diana and Liz Welch with Dan and Amanda Welch

**author’s note:  after posting this entry, I realized that today is our mother’s birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  She would be 75….

This book has reconnected all of the Welches with so many familiar faces.  They pop up at readings, and most often make us laugh out loud with with a flood of memories that the familiar face elicits–”Remember that time when…. ”   A few times, though, I have fought back tears.  And once I choked down panic.  Our book has been out for ten months now.  I personally have done readings in Bedford, New York and Brooklyn; San Francisco and the deep South; Essex Vermont and East Hampton.  One in Coral Gables and four in Connecticut.  And every single one of them has surprised me somehow.

October 3, 2009. Borders, Mount Kisco, NY:  A slew of familiar faces–from those I immediately recognized–Dawn Enterlien, my fourth grade best friend!  Mr. Thomas, who put me up in Paris after my au pere job blew up.  We had heard from Brad Hayes that his mom might show up–would she be mad? Would Dan get upset?  She didn’t, but she did send an email that was so thoughtful that we asked her permission to publish it on our website.  The big surprise of that day came as we were signing books…  an older woman with a kind face approached me beaming.  ”Paul wishes he could be here,” she said.  It was Paul Martino’s mom. She asked me to sign a book for him….

October 5, 2009.  New Canaan Library, , Connecticut:  Diana had already flown home with Harvey so Sophie, Daisy Stewart’s 18-year-old daughter sat in for her.  Hearing that sweet voice read Diana’s words gave everyone the chills.  The room was once again packed with familiar faces–Joe Knezevic, the friend Amanda beat at mercy was there.  We read that section and then all, as if on cue, pointed to Joe as Dan read about Amanda flipping his wrists back and lifting him onto the kitchen counter.  As my face scanned the crowd, it caught on one face, beaming at me.  Kim Largay.  My Harvard roommate the summer of 1989.  Seeing her reminded me of all the pages that did not make it into the book:  like visiting her parents in Cape Cod, sick with a fever of 102 degrees. Like waking up in a delirious sweat to her sweet mom mopping my brow with a cool washcloth and asking me for my pediatrician’s name and number.  ”I don’t have one,” I said.  The shocked look on her face is one I will never forget. Or the amythest earrings she gave me the following year for my birthday.  Kim drove two hours to see me read in New Canaan…  it was almost impossible to say goodbye to her that night!  So many stories came flooding back:  like discovering our subletter’s porn collection underneath his bed.  Like listening to Grease the musical on the 8 track cassette tape deck in her parents’ ancient station wagon. Like the spring break we spent at Kim’s grandparents house in Saint Vincent.  I have met so many kind and generous people throughout my life–this book has reconnected me with many of them.

October 16th, 2009. Books, Inc.  San Francisco, CA:  Not only did my sister in law drive three hours from Chico with her family, but my dear friend and fellow Bedford escapee, Terry Gumz, put me and Dan up that night and then drove us to the airport the next morning after four hours sleep.  The turn out was worth it:  Alexis Woods packed the place with GU alumni.  I spotted Sean Foley in the crowd and welled up–a big bear of a guy, he lost his dad too early as well.  I remembered, upon seeing him, the moment he literally picked me up and spun me around when he heard I had won a fellowship to do my masters degree at GU.  He knew how much that meant.  Zane Vella, another GU pal, left a sweet note with the cashier, and Linda Kosut, Karen’s old roommate sat front row and center and then asked VERY personal questions during the Q&A. Jen Subin, Liz’s sister, sat beside her beaming.  Having her in the front row, along side Eddie and Billy, more old Bedford friends made my heart get bigger in my chest.  The bookstore was wowed by the turnout–80 people had showed up when they stopped counting.

October 17th, 2009. Book Soup, Los Angeles, CA.  Not only did Sally Brooks kill as Diana–and made Dan and I realize we need to use professional actors more often–but Sue Schillinger channeled Amanda and then put us up and fed us home made pasta.  My pal Samantha Peale, an amazing author–The American Painter Emma Dial now out in paperback!– came with two other literary lights, Veronica Gonzalez (twin time, or how death befell her) and Michelle Hueven (Blame) Susanne’s brother brought his whole family and Birgithe’s sister did too!  Which made me wish I had read the bunny chapter…

October 28th, 2009. Square Books, Oxford, MS:  Gideon and I went to Rowan Oak, my favorite spot in Oxford.  As we were wandering through Faulkner’s home, we heard another small group arrive. On our way out, we said hello and within minutes learned that they were also from Brooklyn, also writers.  She had heard of my book, he backed her up, explaining, ‘she was just telling me about it!’  When Bob Guccione, Jr., who was in town to give a lecture to journalism students at Ole Miss, and Liza Lentini, his playwright partner who runs an incredible children’s theater, Elephant Ensemble in NY, showed up that evening and sat in the front row, my heart got even bigger.

There are too many small world moments to include–like Laura Thomas, Mr. Thomas’s daughter, coming to the reading in Essex where Liz Subin read for me, Laura Subin read for Diana and I finally got to swear as Amanda.  And then Eva said hello–Sean Foley’s college girlfriend!  And then these two sisters came bursting through the door. They had driven several hours from the Adirondacks and introduced themselves:  ”I am Liz!’  one said.  ”And I am Amanda,” the other chimed right in.  I invited them to have a glass of wine with me before the reading started:  Our story is similar to theirs. And I could tell by their smiles and their laughter, so is their resilience.

January 3oth, 2010.  Book & Books, Coral Gables, Florida.  I am fast forwarding to catch you all up to here as I realize my old friends are only bold-faced names to me!  And yet, this is the point of this post.  So many have come out to show their support–old friends, new friends.  Every single reading has been bursting with a whole lot of love. And tears.  Case in point:  I am sitting at a table on the lovely terrace at Book & Books having a pre-reading and so mandatory glass of wine.  I don’t get nervous, just emotional.  My college roommate, and still my best friend, Susanne organized this one, she is reading for Diana, her friend Jennifer as Amanda and I decided to do double duty as myself and Dan.  We are gabbing and laughing–my old friend Tania shows up with a bevy of her pals–when a couple approaches holding a manila envelope and a mink stole. It is Kris Medford, Aunty Eve’s son and the man who identified my father’s body the night he died, and his wife  Barbara. I burst into tears, and leapt up from the table to give them a hug. They brought old photos and lots of stories…  Cara and Bridget wanted to come, but Cara was 8 1/2 months pregnant and Bridget lived four hours away.  The mink stole was my mother’s–she gave it to Auntie Eve before she died. Barbara thought it was appropriate to give it back.  ”I live in Florida for Pete’s sake!” she said.  I held the mink in my hands and remembered my mom, before dad died, wearing it into the city, to the theater, to parties.  I fingered the embroidered initials–AWW for Ann Williams Welch–and fought the urge to bury my face in it to see if there was any scent, any familiar whiff of this woman whom so many people loved, not least of all me.

I have to stop now as that memory still brings back tears.  But there are more where that comes from.  Which I will post soon.