Once upon a time a young girl knelt on the floor beside her mother as the woman opened a deep wooden chest. Trembling with curiosity, the girl leaned forward to see the treasures in the chest. A shimmer of gold beneath an old book caught her attention. “What is this, Mama?”
Mama laughed and tugged the fringe from the bottom of the chest. “Bobby gave this to me a long, long time ago.” Mama flattened the fabric across her knees and smiled. Letting the silky fringe slip over her fingers, she said, “Bobby was my first boyfriend. Long before I knew your Daddy.” The fringe was attached to a colorful picture of a far away place–Texas.
Mama read the poem on the pillow cover.
Sweetheart
I thought that you would like to know
That someone’s thoughts go where you go.
That life is richer sweeter far.
For such a sweetheart as you are.
The young girl sighed with the romance of it. This boy had loved her mother enough that he thought of her while he was so far away–in Texas. The pillow cover with all it’s bright colors and sweet words and gold fringe seemed to be everything interesting and romantic and adventurous to the young girl. She determined that one day she would travel to far away places–like Texas, and even beyond–and she would collect beautiful things to remind her of love and adventure.
Mama folded the cloth and put it back in the chest. She closed the lid, trapping the glimmering golden fringe and cedar aroma until the next time the treasure chest would be opened. The girl locked away in her memory the image of the pillow cover and planned her journeys from the swing set in the back yard.
To be continued…
The Texas Sweetheart Pillow
Crash landing…not really, but when you end up in the hospital two days after a wonderful trip, it is definitely a hard landing. The five hour flight from San Francisco to Orlando caught up with me, and a blood clot made a little trip of its own to my left lung. I recognized the symptoms early because I had pulmonary emboli (clots in the lungs) in 2002. When the stabbing pain in my left rib cage and a slight shortness of breath didn’t ease up after a few hours, I took myself to the doc and let them figure it out. I’ll be home in a few days with some blood thinning meds and won’t be taking any flights for a while. 
When a book lover visits San Francisco a visit to City Lights Bookstore is a must, so on Saturday I stole a little time away from the RWA Conference with good friends Debbie Pfeiffer and Nancy Robards Thompson to stroll through Chinatown with the landmark bookstore as our destination.
From the first stage plans for my trip to San Francisco, I knew a few things would make it complete. First, I wanted to happen upon a Huey Lewis and the News concert in a small venue. No luck with that one.
And man, oh man, did we have some fun at the annual Harlequin party during the RWA National Conference in San Francisco! There’s just nothing like gettin’ on your groove with a bunch of smart, talented and light-footed women while the DJ spins hits from “Sweet Home Alabama” to “Sexy Back” with all the good stuff in between. These photos of girls in action were taken with my iPhone in the midst of the dance frenzy. From left to right we’ve got Cindy Rutledge, Nancy Robards Thompson, Mary Louise Wells, Me, Katherine Garbera, Debbie Pfeiffer and Nancy again.
