Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

4/5/23, On the road again

Posted on April 5, 2023

Hi Everyone,

I hope that your life has been rolling along as smoothly as possible. I’ve been travelling again, to visit my children. I have flown through 3 cities in 3 days so far, spent some lovely times with some of my children, and it’s always a challenge to try and see everyone and spend quality time with them, now that we are so spread out. And travelling is challenging these days. So far we had a flight delayed by air traffic controllers, resulting in a 2 hour delay before take off, and a delayed arrival, and a 3 hour delay on the next  flight, due to a mechanical problem, a wait to change planes not sure if the flight would be cancelled or not, and an arrival delayed by nearly four hours, which is always frustrating. “Getting there is NOT half the fun “The airports were crowded and everyone seems to be travelling these days. And the weather has been freezing everywhere, with only the faintest hint of spring in the air.

I try to take time off from work when I’m seeing my kids, but I always have a manuscript somewhere with me, too, and I have this time as well.  I can work on planes and late at night.

I’m looking forward to Easter (and chocolate covered marshmallows, yummmm!!!!) Have a very, very wonderful Easter, hopefully with friends and/or family.  Or a lovely Passover celebration.

May blessings be abundant at your table,

love, Danielle

2/13/23, Be My Valentine

Posted on February 13, 2023

Hi Everyone,

I hope that all is well with you, and you’re having fun. This week is the Valentine Lottery, so to speak, hoping you get cards, flowers, dinner, chocolates, and maybe even an engagement ring!! My first big Valentine disappointment was in third grade, when I was the only girl in class who didn’t get a Valentine, but I made up for it in later years, when I got two Valentine’s Day marriage proposals. One lasted for eighteen years, and the other one for eight. that’s pretty respectable by today’s standards, and the proposals were wonderfully romantic. And so were the weddings that resulted.

I’ve had some truly inglorious years with no flowers, no chocolates and no marriage proposals (although my children always come through for me and spoil me!! And I spoil them too). There is definitely something very exciting and romantic about Valentine gifts, but some men just aren’t into it, and consider it crass commercialism and avoid the date entirely. And I’ve given and received some outrageously funny Valentine cards, refusing to take the date seriously. That is definitely one way to handle the date. The worst possible way to handle the date is to sit at home, crying. I went to mass one year on Valentine’s Day, and the priest asked all couples to stand up so we could see them, and celebrate them and congratulate them. And then he asked all the single people to stand up, and I felt as though he were saying “We want to take a good look at you losers”. Standing up there alone, with people staring me was definitely a low point in my Valentine history.

There are such strong expectations on Valentine’s Day, if no one makes any romantic moves, and no one proposes, it definitely feels like you lost the Valentine lottery. The night before my first Valentine proposal, I gave a Valentine Dance that was a huge amount of fun, I wore a terrific red dress, and everything came together and my husband proposed. I don’t even know who I would invite to a Valentine Dance to today, although I love the idea, I love to dance, and I had a lot of fun at that dance, and the proposal came as a wonderful surprise!!! today, my friends have either settled into couples long since, or have parted company with their mates, or have settled into looser, more unofficial relationships that seem to work with them, and a few claim they are happier alone. There is not quite the feeling of expectation more typical in one’s twenties or thirties. But it’s never too late, and some couples find each other late in life (sometimes even a person they went to school with and have reconnected with, once they are free again.)

Many years ago, I gave a very funny Valentine dinner. I invited a group of people, I think a dozen of them, and each one had to bring someone that they were happy to introduce to others, thought they were a nice person, but had no interest in dating them. It was a fun evening, and I think four or five new couples resulted from it. It was a creative way to meet new people!!

This year, I am trying something different. I am having lunch with five friends whom I thoroughly enjoy and love dearly, and it will be a joy to have lunch with them. Two are married, one is separated, one is widowed, one divorced, and one is in a long term relationship. It will be warm and fun to be with them, we all know each other well and are good friends, and maybe the best way to spend a special day, if romance isn’t in the air, is to spend it with friends you love. And you just never know what surprises life will have in store for you next year!!! Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, with whoever you spend it with, a child, a friend, a spouse or a lover, and have a great week!!!

all my love, Danielle

12/12/22, Christmas wishes

Posted on December 19, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope that all is going smoothly in this final week before Christmas, and you’re not too swamped with last details. Also, I hope that you have plans you are happy with, about where to spend Christmas and with whom.

Almost all of my children are spending Christmas with me, and a few cant make it, which happens in big families. I am grateful for those who can make it. And we will miss the others.

I’ve been on the road in my rock star bus for the last month, visiting my children, and I had some wonderful times with them. My last stop on my Mom Marathon Tour was L.A., and I always have so much fun there. It is like Disneyland for grown ups. I went shopping with my daughters Samantha and Zara in LA, and we went to famous Rodeo Drive, which is the best shopping in the world. They had it wonderfully decorated for Christmas, and it looked magical, and Zara took us to the ‘cool’ trendy shops in other parts of LA, Kith and Chrome Hearts, and fun little shops, and we all found some things for last minute Christmas gifts, and ourselves!!!

Our trees are up and decorated, and everything is ready for a week of fun. And when everyone leaves after Christmas, I’ll start writing again.

I hope that your Christmas plans are just what you want them to be. And if not, I hope that you will have happy surprises over the holidays and precious moments with family our friends.

I wish you a blessed holiday, and memorable times. I wish you holidays filled with joy, happiness, good health, and all your wishes come true. Thank you for all the joy you have given me!!!

with all my love, Danielle

11/7/22, Time is Flying

Posted on November 7, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope that all is well with you, and everything is going smoothly. Where does the time go? It seems like only days ago, it was early September and we were easing into fall after the summer. And now you blink, and it’s November. November!! Halloween is over, and Thanksgiving is two weeks away. That doesn’t seem possible. But there it is.

I have been buried in work, so not paying attention to the Fall speeding by. I am currently working on a first draft, and two re-writes (of a final draft, and a set of galleys/text proofs). This time of year is always heavy writing season for me. And I’m back on schedule. I felt slowed down after the Pandemic last year, but am back at my usual pace again.

I hope your holiday plans are shaping up as you want them to. Once our kids are grown we have to be flexible and understanding about their schedules, their jobs, their in laws, their lives. Only two of my children are coming home for Thanksgiving, but I’m grateful to have them. And all except one are coming home for Christmas. It’s VERY hard to get everyone together once they have flown the nest and have commitments of their own, particularly once they are married and have another family to consider. So I’m grateful for the time we get and the holidays we can share.

I know how challenging holidays can be. People live far from their families now and work in other cities. Travel is expensive and employers not always amenable to employees taking extra time off to make travel work. So many people are not with their families on Thanksgiving, or any of the holidays. It’s a great time to reach out to people we know will be alone, far from their home bases and families. Before I married and had so many children, I remember a lonely Thanksgiving alone in a city that was new to me then. I read in a religious article a quote from the Bible that said “God places the solitary in families”. And he did. I had a lovely Thanksgiving, invited by new people I barely knew but were incredibly kind to me. A year later I was married and had a joyous Thanksgiving. And not long after that, a few years later, I had a family of my own. And I certainly was put in a big family, and was no longer solitary!!!

If this is an off year for you, if your plans are not shaping up as you hoped, try to be flexible about what plans are available, or even reach out to others in your same situation, who don’t have their own families to be with this year. Oddly, the years I expected to be the most difficult, have almost always turned out to be the most fun, in a completely free-form unexpected way. We may not get our typical traditional holiday, but maybe it will be even more special when you least expect it.

I hope you’ll have a wonderful, warm, loving Thanksgiving however you choose to spend it, and with whom. It’s a time to give thanks for our blessings, and sometimes our blessings don’t show up exactly as we thought they would, but it may turn out to be even better than you hoped, especially if you reach out to someone else.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, with much love, Danielle

10/24/22, Sunday Fun

Posted on October 24, 2022

Hi Everyone,

When my youngest, “coolest” daughter came to visit me in Paris recently, she came armed with a list of “cool” stores to visit. She has had shocking pink hair for years, knows and owns every cool sneaker ever made, from every collaboration of shoe designers with famous brands. She was wearing Golden Goose sneakers with silver sparkles, and she loves Balenciaga streetwear.

She took me to a store named Kith, which I’d heard of and never been to, and she has visited in several cities (LA and NY), and I didn’t know what to expect. I expected the usual fashion forward clothes I couldn’t wear, and was prepared to wander the store aimlessly while she checked it out. I was surprised by the address, in a posh location, and recognized it once I got there. The location was previously a small chic boutique hotel, with a popular restaurant: Pershing Hall. I recognized the two story high wall of intertwining leaves that was previously in the restaurant, and is now at the heart of store. Past 3 security guards at the entrance, the entire interior is white marble (with gorgeous marble benches), and the inside of the ‘store’ is spectacular. Their gift shop has jewelry, custom Rolex watches, size 17 glass high top sneakers to be used as vases, and others in the same design are candles. Designer bears and decorative items, and upstairs walls of rare, unusual sneakers, men’s and women’ clothes. And in the center of the ground floor, the restaurant Sadell’s , my favorite brunch spot in NY (fabulous pancakes, and delicious salads). Next stops on our list Supreme and Off-White. Shopping with my coolest daughter is a LOT of fun!!!

I hope you have a great week, with some frivolous moments, and some fun!!

love, Danielle

10/10/22, Moses and the Serpent

Posted on October 10, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re busy and having some fun as the fall progresses into full bloom. I always like the fall weather, it revs up one’s engines and give us new energy. ( I love being lazy in summer when it’s warm, and the fall wakes me up again and gets me moving). I write a lot in the fall. I just finished a book, 2 re-writes, and am working on a new outline. The book I finished was a very big deal to me, because it is the 200th book I’ve written, which amazes even me. I wrote my first book at 19.

One of my daughters very bravely had four wisdom teeth extracted last week, and VERY understandably, she was fiercely anxious about it for weeks before. And I don’t blame her a bit, I’m one of those people who get nervous going to the dentist. She isn’t normally anxious about the dentist, but she was about having teeth pulled and worried about it. We were talking about it, and I told her it was going to be a lot easier than she thought (and fortunately it was), and another of my daughters was worried last week too about something else. I reminded them both about a story I remembered in the Bible, of Moses being afraid of a snake, and he reached down and grabbed it and it turned into a dry old wood stick in his hands. It’s an interesting parable and image, which seems true of life to me. (I love finding stories in the Bible that are helpful in my life). MOST of the things I have been terrified of, and really really worried or scared—-most of them turned out to be so much less frightening and dangerous when they actually happened, even easy. For those of us who are worriers (and I am one), deeply concerned about something that lies ahead, it rarely turns out to be as scary, dangerous or tragic than I expected. It’s a good thing to remember when we are tormenting ourselves over what’s to come. Not always, but in most cases, the snake turns out to be a dry old stick, and not a snake at all. Just a thought if that helps you too.

Have a wonderful week, peaceful, happy, with good surprises, and only small problems, or none at all!!!

Much love, Danielle

9/19/22, A week of goodbyes

Posted on September 19, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope that the week has gone smoothly for you. In the UK, US, Europe, and countries around the world, the news is full of the ceremonies and tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth the II. Her seventy year reign has left her subjects deeply saddened to lose her, and she has touched hearts around the world with her deep devotion to her duty and her subjects. She began as one of the youngest queens at twenty five, and ended as one of the oldest still working queens at ninety six. And whatever one’s politics, her humanity touched millions as much as her majesty. And all of the ceremonies paying tribute to her are deeply touching, as Queen, mother, grandmother, great grandmother. Beyond the pomp and ceremony and traditions is the love of her country and the admiration of the entire world, and the loved ones she left behind who are moving through the proceedings with dignity and grace.

The world will be watching her funeral today, and it must be exhausting and emotionally draining for her family to share their grief so publicly, while honoring her.

I have an odd tie to the date, which is emotional for me as well. On Tuesday, the day after the Queen’s funeral is the anniversary of the death of my son Nick. It’s a hard day for my family every year. He died at nineteen, by suicide, after a lifetime of bi polar disease. He was a brave, wonderful, brilliant, talented, funny adorable boy, and although we miss him every day, these anniversary days are always particularly hard. You never get used to them. There is no easy way to spend these days. I usually try to spend part of the day with some of my children, but on some years that’s complicated, and I will be alone on his anniversary date this year, the day after the Queen’s funeral. And tuesday will be a quiet day for me, with thoughts of Nick, and memories of a very challenging day. We have honored his memory with a foundation dedicated to funding organizations that provide hands on treatment to people who suffer from mental illness. And all we can do is remember those we have lost on these anniversaries, cherish their memories, remember the wonderful times we shared and go forward into the future, doing good for others in their name.

Whether as public as the Queen’s funeral, or as private as my son Nick’s anniversary, they are days filled with the love that we shared with them in their lifetimes, may they be long remembered for the joy they gave us and the love and blessings we shared.

I hope it will be a peaceful week for you, with much love, Danielle

9/6/22, Sailing into Fall

Posted on September 6, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, to celebrate the end of summer, and now we all get back to ‘real life’ in the fall. The summer vacation is over, kids are back in school, and the pace will pick up quickly as we slide into September. I love the fall, the energy, and the excitement of getting back to work!!!

In the fashion world, everyone involved in fashion is preparing the shows for Fashion Week, which I always say is really fashion month, since it begins in New York, then moves on to London, Milan, and Paris at the end of the month, with a week in each city dedicated to the designers of each country, with fabulous shows on the runway. Preparations are happening now with fittings on the models, and the final touches on the collections. Two of my daughters, Vanessa and Victoria are hard at work on their shows, working incredibly long hours, to show fashion editors and buyers the collections for next season. It’s an exciting time in fashion, and happens twice a year, in fall and Spring. And the Haute Couture shows are in June and July. It’s always exciting to see the new collections, and what each designer is showing for next season. It’s a dazzling way to start the fall, with runway shows by all the big designers, and new ones, and parties to celebrate the event!!

And I’m working on a new book, which will keep me busy, and get the fall off to a good start.

My new book “The Challenge” has been out for two weeks, and was #2 on the New York Times bestseller list this past Sunday. I love that book, and hope you’ll love it too, about the rescue of 7 young teens lost on the most dangerous mountain in the US, and the daring rescue to find them and bring them home, and the impact on their families and the town of Fishtail, Montana, as even the National Guard is brought in to try to save the missing kids. I hope you’ll find time to read it. And my next book will be out in October, “The High Notes”, about a young girl with an incredible voice, who began her singing career at twelve, in bars, in the dusty small towns in Texas, and her arduous climb to success. It’s a behind the scenes look at the hardships of the music business, and what it takes to reach fame and stardom. And I hope you love that book too.

Have a great week as we sail into the fall. I hope it’s a great week for you and gets the season off to a great start!!!

lots of love, Danielle

8/22/22, Back to School!!!

Posted on August 22, 2022

Hi Everyone,

I hope these last days of summer are still giving you some fun times, as we all begin to rev our engines up for the Fall. This time of year still smells to me of new pencils, new Superman or Wonder Woman lunch boxes, new notebooks, and all the excitement of new classrooms, new teachers and old friends. September always feels like the time for new projects, and moving ahead with fresh energy.

The children I know went back to school last week, and the rest of us are getting the sand out of our shoes and putting on real clothes again. I just finished editing two books and am working on a new outline. My daughters who work in fashion are revving up their engines to start work on fashion week this week. And it’s exciting to start new projects with fresh ideas.

I enjoyed a week’s vacation in July with three of my daughters, and managed to see all of my children for a brief visit in August, but it was so wonderful to see them and be together. And now we’re all off and running to work. September is an exciting month. And I have a new book out, “The Challenge” about the daring rescue of 7 kids in their early teens lost on a dangerous mountain in Montana. It was inspired by the incredible rescue of the 13 boys in Thailand trapped in a cave, four years ago. The entire world held their breath as the rescue unfolded, completely successfully, which inspired my book. There is a new movie out about the Thai rescue, and a documentary, and I haven’t had time to watch either one, but I will. When it was happening, I was mesmerized by the complicated rescue operation and jubilant at its success. And I hope you love my book about the mountain rescue.

Since organizing a big family takes a lot of planning and military precision, I’m already thinking about the holidays, and I start my Christmas shopping in August. My family makes fun of me for it, but I love getting an early start!!!

I hope you have some fun plans for the Fall, and some exciting new projects in view. Have a great week!!!

much love,
Danielle

7/18/22, Gone Fishing

Posted on July 18, 2022

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope that you are having a break from work and your regular routine, as the month of July rolls out. People are on the move this summer, hungry to return to normalcy, travel, and summer vacations, after two years of staying home during the pandemic. Our family tradition has been a week’s vacation together every summer, which was cancelled for the last two summers, and we finally got back on track with a family holiday, for the first time in 3 years. Only three of my children were able to get the free time, and although we’re a small group, it is wonderful to be together, to swim and relax, and have dinners out in the same beach town where we go every year for our annual family week together. We go to the same hotel every year, and it was a joy to see the same people working there and everything unchanged, as the two disrupted years fade away. And next year, we hope that all of my kids can make it. I am so grateful for this precious week together.

 

My new book “Suspects” is on the bestseller lists and doing well. I was working hard right up until the vacation, and I will start a book the day after I get back. But I am thoroughly enjoying the time off for the first real vacation I’ve had in three years. And we all need time off from our daily routines to see things with a fresh eye. I hope you are getting time off this summer too!!! And I hope you have time to read ‘Suspects’ before the summer is over. It’s a thriller with Russian spies in it, as innocent people cross their path and get caught in a web of intrigue, and a dedicated CIA agent, who is discreetly following the spies tries to keep the innocents out of harm’s way before they realize the danger they are in. I hope you have fun reading it, and that this turns out to be a great summer for you.

 

Have a great week, with some beach time or time on vacation somewhere in a place you love!!!

 

with much love, Danielle

 

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