Danielle Steel's Blog, page 30

5/30/17, “The summer begins…”

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day, and had a long weekend!!!

Memorial Day is when we remember those fallen in combat and war, a serious holiday, but it is also the very beginning of summer. It’s not hot everywhere yet, but the weather is warmer, and for many people it’s their first weekend away, to mark the beginning of summer. Every year we scrubbed and cleaned and painted and organized our country house for the summer, and I helped my children do that two weeks ago. It’s fun to get everything ready for the summer. I spent the weekend writing, but I love knowing that summer is just around the corner and I’ll take some time off soon—not quite yet though. I took a few days off last week to read a book and enjoyed it, but I’m back at work now. So my summer hasn’t quite started yet, but I’m looking forward to it!!

I hope you got to enjoy the three day weekend. Children will be out of school soon, and parents will be busy keeping them entertained all summer, and I hope you’ll be able to take some vacation time this summer, to sleep late, go to the beach, or lie in a hammock and read. What a heavenly thought!!!

I’m looking forward to some downtime this summer, and hope you are too!!! I worked hard writing books all winter!!

I’ve been thinking a lot about the victims of the attack at the concert in Manchester, England. So troubling and so heart breaking to think of young people being targeted for an attack like that, or anyone. So cruel. I hope we see the end of events like that soon. And my thoughts are with the victims, and their families, and the injured who will have a long road to recover. My prayers are with them. This is an unseen war, which explodes periodically, attacking the innocent, in this case, young people, teenagers and children. Our Memorial Day should include them too. May our troubled world come to a place of peace soon.

Have a terrific, peaceful, safe, happy week!!!

love, Danielle

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5/22/17, Reese!!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a great week. I’ve had a fun, varied, busy one. A wonderful Mother’s Day with my kids a week ago, and busy days since then. I’m in a frenzy of spring cleaning, cleaning out closets, getting rid of clothes I don’t wear (some very entertaining—-and embarrassing—-fashion mistakes, where I manage to forget both my height (5 feet 1 and a half inches!!) and my age, or some trendy things I never should have bought.) When I clean out my closets, I give the best of what I find to my five daughters, give a choice piece now and then to a friend, and sometimes donate or sell the rest. Every May, I spend a couple days with one of my daughters cleaning and scrubbing and refreshing the country house that five of my children share, which they own now, and where we spent summers when they were growing up. The place is 160 years old, and its hard work keeping it in good order, but I always enjoy projects like that. A book takes me more than two years to write, sometimes three, from my first notes on the concept, to outline, first draft, to the many re-writes I do, before the book is finally printed and then published at last. It’s a long process of honing, cleaning, building, editing—–but you take a messy, or tired, or dusty house, or a pile of things to get rid of and repair, or clean out a closet, and presto magic, within hours or a few days, you see the shining results right before your eyes. It’s so gratifying to get results on a project with a rapid beginning and an end. So I’ve been busy with that, found time to read a book I enjoyed, while I take a little break from my own writing (I never read other books while I’m working on my own), went to a dance recital and a school play.

But the highlight of my week was a very special visit. A few weeks ago, while in New York, I went to a birthday party with two of my daughters. The birthday boy was a good friend, a talented young fashion journalist, who knows and has interviewed some major stars. His birthday party was a fun event, at a bar that was taken over for the event. And there was a wonderful mix of young, talented, writers, actors, artists, business people, and some very famous people who were exciting to meet. Among them, I was thrilled to meet Reese Witherspoon, and have always been a big fan of hers. I love her romantic comedies, and also this week, I ‘binge-watched’ her recent TV series “Big Little Lies” and LOVED it!!! It’s a terrific series of 7 episodes, which has been a big hit, with some great surprises in it, and some wonderful actors and actresses (Nicole Kidman) in the cast. Reese is both acting and producing now, with enormous talent at both. I loved chatting with her at the birthday party, and decided to be brave (I’m normally pretty shy, and don’t like to intrude on people), and emailed her after we met, and told her how much I enjoyed meeting her, and how much I enjoy her work. A lively, friendly email exchange ensued in the past few weeks, and we discovered that we were both going to be in the same city this week, and agreed to get together—–and we did!!! What a treat!! She’s a beautiful woman, incredibly bright, enterprising, creative, talented, and full of exciting ideas. She was busy in the midst of a trip, and I had no idea if she could only spare half an hour or more. We wound up spending three hours together, talked incessantly, about her work and mine. I would love to do a project with her, and we kicked around some ideas. We both talked a mile a minute, about life, our work, our families, our plans, and our wish list of what we want to do next. In the 90’s, a meeting at a dinner party led to my 21 TV movies, and it would be a dream come true if our meeting at that birthday party led to our working together one day. And if not, I am thrilled to just know her as a friend. The time we spent together was a gift. She is warm, lively, vivacious, gracious to everyone who approaches her, she is an absolutely delightful woman, and I loved every minute of the time we spent together. And it is soooo invigorating to talk to someone full of energy and ideas. The time flew by. I could have talked to her for another ten hours, and look forward to seeing her again!!

It’s not every day I get to meet a movie star, and get to spend hours with her, talking about our lives and work. I spend most of my time locked up in my office, writing my books—or with my kids, when I’m lucky enough to spend time with them. So meeting Reese Witherspoon was a great big fabulous treat, like a super duper fantastic chocolate cake with whipped cream on top!!! Spending time with her made it a very special week!!!

I hope you have a wonderful week!! I don’t see how this coming week can possibly be as exciting as the last one was for me—-unless I get to see Reese again—-and I hope I will soon!!! Have a great week!!!

love, Danielle

PS. In response to some of your questions at the end of last week’s blog.

The little book I mentioned, with the house story, of the woman who hated her house, and then made it beautiful and she came to love it once she embraced it: The book is called “Gratitude: Affirming the Good things in Life”, by Melody Beattie, published by Ballantine. It may be out of print, I’ve had it for a long time, but it’s a wonderful little book.

In response to your asking if I’ve written a sequel to one of my books—-No, I haven’t. I have never written a sequel to any of my books. I don’t like comparisons, where people may prefer the first book, and might be disappointed by the sequel, so I never write them. Or at least I haven’t yet.

And one of you referred to my ‘flip phone’, because I admitted to using a VERY old cell phone that I love—–mine PRE-dates the flip phone, and is a tiny little Nokia, that has fallen on the floor a million times and doesn’t break. It lights up when a call comes in, or when there’s a message on it. I just love that little phone. I’ve heard that Nokia is going to make a modern version that looks the same, and I don’t know if that’s true. It is definitely a dinosaur but a beloved one. My kids and friends make fun of it—-but I just love that little phone, and I’m sticking with it, as long as there is life in it!!! love, Danielle

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5/15/17, Another House Story

Hi Everyone,

I hope that last week went well, and that Mother’s Day was a good day for you, even if you spent it in some unusual non-traditional way. There are so many ways to be a mother these days, and to have a mother. Some of the most loving mothers in my life have been women I was not related to, and have been wonderful mothers to me. I cherish those relationships.

I was so touched by the many, many responses to my blog (on April 10, I think, “Random Acts of Kindness)—-we all need to remember at times that miracles DO happen, and sometimes the littlest blessing can turn out to be a big one, and just what we needed.

It touches me too to hear of the challenges you’re facing. Children you have lost, which I’ve experienced too, as you know, relationships you’ve lost, men who have abandoned you, difficult family relationships, and job challenges, one lady wrote that she still has to work at 63, and another one wrote that she is still obliged to work at 75. I do believe that even if working is hard at times, I think it keeps us alive and engaged in life, and busy. I can’t even imagine what I would do if I weren’t working. Particularly with my children grown up now, I need the challenge of work, and I’m lucky that I love my work—most of the time!!!.(I have a magnet on my fridge that I love, it says “I’ve done the calculation and I’ll be able to retire 5 years after I die”. That’s true for a lot of us, particularly if we have a lot of responsibilities to others!!) I really admire (much) older people who are still working, I hope I can continue writing until I’m very, very old!!!

The challenges you mentioned in your responses to my blog are the things I write about, because they are the challenges we all face—-and the things that frighten, sadden, and discourage us at times, whether the loss of a loved one, or a disappointment of some kind. And I write about them because I’ve experienced them too, so I can relate to what you said.

Your responses remind me of another house story that impressed me when I read it. It didn’t happen to me, but to someone else, and it was written in a little book that I still keep in a suitcase I travel with, because it’s a good reminder when something gets me down, and it’s a true story, written by an inspirational writer. She wrote about needing a new home, and not being able to afford a nice one. She was able to buy a very small house, in terrible condition. She said that it was truly ugly, and once she was in it, she absolutely hated the house, everything was shabby or broken, and she didn’t have the money to fix it up. She said that every night for a year, she just sat in the ugly house and cried, hating it, and the fact that she couldn’t have anything better. After a year, she said that she got tired of crying about the house, and she saved up and bought some fabric and made curtains, but the rest of the house was still a mess, she then bought some tools, and fixed the woodwork in the kitchen, she lived alone, and had to learn how to do it (I think she’d gone through a bad divorce). She said her kitchen looked amazing after she worked on the woodwork. She was so busy, working on her house at night, she stopped crying, and started enjoying it, and little by little, her ugly little house got better and better. She said it took her a year, but at the end of it, she had come to love the place, and she loved the way it looked. She redid the floors, and regrouted the bathroom, and did it all herself, and painted all the rooms. She saved up to buy inexpensive second hand furniture and fixed that up too. After a while, she really enjoyed it, and eventually she planted a garden in the tiny backyard. And AFTER she worked her tail off on the house, and loved the way it looked, and it felt like a cozy home, something changed in her fortunes, she got a great opportunity and a better job, she sold the house, and was able to buy a much better one that she loved. But the lesson that hit me from her story was that, she had to embrace the ugly house first, and really work to improve it, and once she did, everything changed—not immediately, but in a reasonable time. I think it took her a year to fix up the house, and then everything got better after that.

We ALL find ourselves in situations we hate, a home we don’t really like, a job we hate (I had a number of those before I was able to write full time), a boss who makes our life a living hell—-and most of the time, those situations don’t improve by magic. Sometimes, often, we have to embrace the situation we’ve got, and work on improving it, and only then, when our attitude changes toward it, are we shifted to a much better place or situation—but first we have to do OUR part. The bad boss doesn’t just quit and make your life easier, and no one walks up to the front door and hands you the keys to a better house, or gives you a check to improve it. But once you do your part, the miracles start to happen.

That story has been a great reminder to me that we have to work on improving a situation, and not just sit and cry about it, and we can’t give up until we make the ‘ugly houses’ and situations in our lives more livable, and THEN the blessings and miracles happen. A friend may help you, or a lucky break, or some unexpected money, or someone may give you what you need—-but we have to do our part of the work too. I hadn’t thought about that little book in a while, and you reminded me of it when I read your responses to my blog, so I’m sharing it with you.

Have a terrific week—–an AMAZING week, not just a good one!!!

much love, Danielle

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5/8/17, Happy Mother’s Day

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a great week since I last wrote to you!! My favorite holiday is coming up this week, on Sunday, Mother’s Day. I always say I love it, because I get presents and don’t have to get a year older!! Definitely a plus!! And I think I have every Mother’s Day gift my kids ever gave me: I still use a slightly battered Kleenex box my kids decorated for me, all the usual soup can pen and pencil holders. Several decorated jewelry boxes. One of my sons made me a terrific table in woodshop when he was ten or eleven, which I still use in my office, for my computer when I send emails. He made it and painted it himself. I have drawings and paintings they made me, and ceramic hand prints they made in Kindergarten, and some ceramic fruits and vegetables that are so pretty I still have them in our family sitting room, mixed in with some antique Chinese ceramic objects (and they look great together!!). I have lots of needlepoint cushions the girls made for me, and some wonderful more sophisticated gifts they’ve given me as they got older. One of my favorites is an Italian sweater, black with gold and pearl letters on it that says “Mamma”—-I wear it every chance I get when I think I need to be identified as The Mom at a special occasion!!! So I have been utterly spoiled by my kids.

When I was married to their father, and the kids were younger, we made a BIG deal of mother’s day—but they still do, we have brunch together at home, and usually meet up again in the evening and go out to dinner. And I do it in two ‘sessions’ now, in two cities, so I can meet up with as many of them as possible, for those who live far away now. It’s a very, very special day for me.

I realize too that it’s not always an easy day. If your own mother is no longer around, it can be a hard day, or if the relationship with your mother is not an easy one (I’ve had that experience too). There have been some very important ‘adopted mothers’ in my life, growing up and as an adult, women who became extraordinary friends and role models for me, and whom I love and admire still to this day. Even if we don’t have a present mother, or an easy one, other sometimes older women can come into our lives and be an important force in our lives for love and support. And I’m very, very grateful to the women who did that for me and some who still do.

So whether you celebrate with your own mother, or a stand-in mother, or a favorite aunt, whether you are a mother yourself or not, it’s an important day to celebrate some of the relationships we have with other women who are important to us, or to be motherly ourselves for someone who needs us in that role, whether we are related by blood or not.

I hope this Mother’s Day will be wonderful for you, and that the special relationships in your lives that celebrate mothering in some way, will nurture you, or that you will be nurturing someone else.

Have a great day!!! And a wonderful week ahead, much love, Danielle

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5/1/17, “Against All Odds”

Hi Everyone,

Today is a special day, for a couple of reasons. I hope you’ve had a good week with lots of good things happening. I always love May Day, it was a wonderful holiday when I was a little girl, and I still love it as an adult. As I’ve mentioned to you before, in France (where May Day is Labor Day), the custom is to give those you care about (friends, family, or loves) a sprig of lily of the valley. It’s my favorite flower and the smell is heavenly!! And in Paris, on every street corner, vendors are selling sprigs of lily of the valley for people to give to friends or loved ones. And when you get a little sprig of lily of the valley from someone, it is supposed to bring you luck!! I always give a dinner party on May 1st, with close friends, and give each of them a little vase of lily of the valley to take home with them.

May 1st is particularly special to me because it’s also my son Nick’s birthday. The day always reminds me of all the wonderful birthday parties we had for him. An almost life size cake, shaped like a whole person, of his favorite singer at the time: Prince. (He was also Prince for Halloween when he was 5 or 6—-he had very advanced taste in music for his age, and later became a musician, singer, and composer. When he dressed up as Prince, he wore a black wig, boots, and wore a lavender and red lame sparkly disco outfit of mine, from my younger days!! One year we had a cake that was a life size cake version of his favorite skateboard. We went all out for birthdays and holidays!! He LOVED his birthdays!! So although it is always bittersweet that he is no longer here, it’s the anniversary of a happy day, and I invite 10 or 12 of my closest friends, and I celebrate him in my heart, and it’s nice being with friends on that night.

Tomorrow is going to be a special day too. My newest Book, “Against All Odds”, is coming out tomorrow. It’s about a widowed woman, single Mom of four adult children in their 20’s and 30’s—-and the disastrous relationships they get into, thinking that they can “beat the odds”. It’s hard or even impossible to beat the odds (someone wins the lottery, but no one I know!!)—-if it looks like it’s going to be a disaster, more than likely it will be. It’s about each of the four children’s relationships, and how challenging it is for parents to watch their kids make dangerous choices—-and there’s nothing you can do about it. The situations they get into are very varied, and how they face their challenges is exciting. I hope you love it, and maybe you can relate to it as a parent. We’ve all been there in one form or another, watching our kids grow up!! Have a GREAT week!!

love, Danielle

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4/24/17, Cyberhell

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a terrific week. I’ve been busy, writing a lot, and am on the move again. I was saddened by the recent act of violence in France, and I hope that the French elections will happen peacefully.

I had an experience last week that was so frustrating I wanted to share it with you, as I think we all run into similar experiences now. One of my children needed some ongoing health maintenance care (nothing too serious, but worth doing), and I decided to contact both of the big highly respected university hospitals in San Francisco. Both offer top notch care and are respected well known institutions. I didn’t have a name of who to call, so decided to call the right department in each hospital, which seemed like a simple project, to gather information, and who might offer the most appropriate options for health care. It was not a life threatening situation, but important enough to me to warrant some research on the subject. And bluntly put, I ran into a wall. A call that should have taken maybe ten minutes to each hospital, took me SIX AND A HALF HOURS of constant calling and total frustration before I ever got to speak to a human at one hospital, and never got to one at all at the other. I went from one robot voice to the next, got shifted into dead end extensions, reached voice mails in some cases, pressed buttons, called new numbers, and it went on and on and on and on, until I finally reached a human at one of the two hospitals, and no one at the other. At the hospital where I got no human after all my calls, someone finally called me back the next day to tell me that my child had JUST missed the age cut off and they made no exceptions, that they were not accepting new patients anyway, but would call me back in six months, in October, to then put us on a wait list which was going to be at least six months long, but I MIGHT be able to get an appointment NEXT April, maybe, but maybe not until next July (NOT this July!!). So we’re talking about waiting 12 to 15 months before we could see a doctor. At the other hospital, when I finally reached a living person and not a recording or a robot after six and a half hours on the phone, they gave me great information, had someone call me back within the hour who was absolutely wonderful and we got an appointment for 3 days later. What a difference between the two, but I still had to spend almost seven hours on the phone, determined to fight my way through the maze of cyberhell to get the information we needed. I dropped everything I was doing that day to do it. What happens if you don’t have the time or patience, can’t spend 7 hours on the phone, don’t understand the messages or the system, or never get lucky enough to reach a human? What do people do? Forget it? Give up? Not get medical help when they need it? I don’t think my experience was unique. And what are you supposed to do with a 15 month wait to see a doctor?? It reminded me of when I was working on the streets with the homeless, would refer them for medical care, and they would sometimes be put on a wait list for 8 to 18 months, most of them would have been dead at the end of that time, and some were. I think it’s a terrible statement about how we have mis-used technology, to build an impenetrable wall around services we need, medical people we can’t reach, where we get fobbed off with waiting lists of more than a year, IF they even bother to call you back. What happens to people who don’t understand the messages, can’t make themselves understood to a robot, and just don’t have the tenacity or skills to get through? I became so determined I was not going to give up until I got someone. It also showed me the difference between the two institutions, one where they leapt in to help us once I reached them, the other where they simply didn’t care and fobbed us off for 15 months, or would have, except that we had missed the age limit by a few months. Then what?? You just live with the problem. In the era of high technology health care, with such enormous advancements in science and health and new information, what good does it do us if we can’t even reach health care providers, and get pushed off on a wait list for more than a year? I found the whole experience shocking. And I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I was to actually reach a human, who was nice, helpful, and gave us an appointment.

And if this is how we treat humans now at medical institutions, I can’t even think about what it is like trying to get your washing machine repaired or call a plumber. Everything is voice mail and robots now, press #1 for this and #5 for that, where you get nowhere and no one calls you back, or it disconnects, or shifts you entirely into the wrong service, and there is no one to explain it to. There is something VERY wrong with our systems if we have used technology to make life this complicated, and replaced human beings with machines that don’t “get it”. Whose life have we simplified with this?? Certainly not ours. I was so grateful for the help I got, and shocked at how hard it was to cut through the red tape in Cyberhell. What can we do about it? How can we change it? Is this how it’s going to be now? It was one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had in years, and I think we all run into it now. Some of the old systems, which actually used humans, worked so much better!!!

Have a great week, and stay out of Cyberhell, if we can!!

love, Danielle

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4/17/17, Opening Day of the Giants

Hi Everyone,

Well, it must be spring, baseball season has officially begun!!! One of my great treats is going to baseball games with my youngest son. And BEST of all is when he invites me to opening day. It’s always so festive and exciting and fun. People are waving and laughing and talking, there are fireworks, and fighter planes fly overhead. There is music and laughter, and fast food everywhere (I had a pretzel, AND caramelized popcorn, and I wanted a churro, but couldn’t find any.) People were drinking beer (which I don’t). I had lemonade—there is also cotton candy, which I love. The excitement of the day brings out the kid in me (and maybe in all of us), and I love sharing it with my son, and his girlfriend, and good friends sat right behind us, and my son had several friends at the game. Barry Bonds was there as a new employee of the team, and he’s an old friend, so it was nice to see him there. Everyone is in a good mood on opening day, with high hopes for the team!! I was really touched that my son invited me to go with him!! He expects me to dress in team colors, so I wore black jeans, an orange sweater, coat, and loafers, and a handbag that my son gave me for Christmas, with the team’s logos on it. So I was dressed for the occasion!

They played the Diamondbacks from Arizona for the opening game, and the first inning got off to bumpy start with a mishap. The pitcher of the Diamondbacks hit Buster Posey, one of the Giants’ star players, he hit him smack in the head with a fast flying ball, when Posey was up at bat. Posey was wearing a helmet but he fell to the ground and looked dazed for several minutes. A medical person of the team’s came out to check him, led him off the field, and took him out of the game, which was disappointing, and everyone booed the Diamondbacks’ pitcher. But other than that, everything went smoothly, and the Giants won the game to the delight of the crowd.

I’ve gone to baseball games with two of my sons for several years, and I always have a great time (less so when they lose of course!!). But a victory makes it a real celebration. I didn’t grow up with baseball, and I think one of the things I love about it is that it is so jubilantly American. Pacbell Park where they played is beautiful, and it was a gorgeous sunny day, not windy for once, and pleasantly warm.

So I had a ball at the ballgame, and the season is off to a great start with a win for the Giants on Opening Day!!

Have a great week,

love, Danielle

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4/10/17, Random Acts of Kindness

Hi Everyone,

I had a particularly fun four days, visiting one of my daughters in LA, to celebrate her birthday and spend some one on one time together, which isn’t always easy to achieve, with demanding jobs, and busy lives, and she travels even more for work than I do. So I loved having the time with her in LA for lunches and dinners, and shopping, and just hanging out!!!

I hope you’ve had a good week too. I thought of something the other day that I wanted to share with you. It was one of those small miracles that happened in my life, and affected me for years. It was proof to me at the time that good things DO happen, and maybe it will give you hope and encouragement too, if you’re looking for a new home or apartment, or need a lucky break. And we all do at times.

When I first arrived in San Francisco, my second apartment was one I particularly loved. It was in a small building, in a good residential neighbourhood. I had only one child then, my oldest daughter, who was five, and there was a lovely, secluded playground a block away. I felt lucky to find it, at a rent I could afford, in a safe building. Everything about it suited me. There were two apartments on each floor, mine had two floors, it had 3 small bedrooms, which worked well for me, a balcony, and a beautiful view of the San Francisco bay. The owner of the building lived on the ground floor, and everything was perfect, until he decided that he wanted my apartment on the top floor, instead of his. I had a year left on my lease and he asked me to give up the apartment to him. I refused, because the apartment was too good to give up, and I was sure I couldn’t find anything to match it that I could afford. He became quite irate about it, and extremely convincing when he threatened me with a gun. That terrified me, so I began looking for a new apartment immediately. I was very young then, and scared to death!! I looked at lots of apartments, and everything I saw was awful, dark, dingy apartments, in decent neighbourhoods, or slightly better ones in dicey neighbourhoods. There was absolutely nothing I could afford, or where I’d want to live, and nothing that even remotely compared to the lovely apartment I had and was being forced to leave—-at gunpoint!!! On top of it, I had a dog, and most of the apartments I saw didn’t allow dogs—OR they didn’t allow children, and I had my daughter. One landlord told me to let him know if I changed my mind—-about what? My daughter or the dog??

I was immensely discouraged, when a friend called me and told me she had driven by a “cute little house” in her neighbourhood with a for rent sign in the window. I assured her that there was no way I could afford a house, and I couldn’t have afforded anything in her neighbourhood. She lived on Russian Hill, which is one of the nicer areas in San Francisco. And her suggestion seemed ridiculous and no help at all. She insisted that I should go to see it and said “you never know”. I was annoyed at the suggestion, which was so obviously out of my leagues. She called several times to push me about it, and finally just to shut her up, I drove by, and it was indeed a VERY cute little house, I wrote down the phone number on the sign, called the owners, and made an appointment to see it, feeling ridiculous because I knew there was no way I could afford it. (I was working as a copywriter at the time, in an ad agency, not very well paid, and writing my books at night. And I was doing free lance translations, to make ends meet. And my books weren’t successful yet, it was the beginning of my career).

I went to see the house, and if you had asked me to list everything I wanted in my dream house at the time, that house would have been it. It was small, but cozy and well laid out, in perfect condition. It had a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, a big sunny kitchen, three bedrooms, a small bedroom downstairs for the student I had living with us to help take care of my daughter when I was at work, it had a garage, and a small pretty garden, and balconies off two of the bedrooms. All it did was show me what I couldn’t have, and wished I did. The woman who showed it to me explained that she and her three cousins had inherited the house from an elderly aunt who had no children. They didn’t want to sell the house, didn’t need it, she was of a grandmotherly age, and said that all her children had their own houses and children, and the house was too small for any of them. So the four cousins who had inherited it had decided to rent it. She also told me that there were three couples who wanted it, who had seen it first, but the owners of the house hadn’t made any decision yet. Predictably, I nearly fainted when she told me what the rent was that they wanted, and the house was worth every bit of it. I told her that I couldn’t afford it, and explained that I was divorced with a child and a dog. The house was exactly four times what I could afford. We talked for a while, and she asked me what I could afford to pay in rent. (She was very well dressed, and it was obvious that they weren’t pressed for money, but the rent they were asking was reasonable for what it was. On top of it, it was on a historic block on Russian hill, in a row of beautiful little Victorian houses. This one was stucco, and built in the 1930’s, and had been beautifully maintained). Feeling very embarrassed for having wasted her time, I told her what I could afford, so much less than they were asking in rent. And a few minutes later, I thanked her, and left, and went home even more discouraged than before. She called me the next day, and the four cousins had discussed it, she said what I had suspected that none of them needed the money, and she told me that they had decided to rent it to me, at the price I could afford, a quarter of what they had been asking. It was a gesture of such enormous kindness and generosity that it took my breath away. It was truly a miracle in my life. It was a real home, a house!!! In a beautiful neighbourhood, at a price I could afford. It was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I was.

I moved in a few weeks later, with a sense of wonder over what had happened to me. My daughter loved the house and so did I, and even my dog was happy with our new home. I lived there for almost 5 years, and my books became more and more successful while I lived there. After four years, I was able to buy the house, the first house I had ever owned. And the year I bought it, John and I got married, and I sold it, and my life with him began. I moved to his house, and we had many children, and you know the rest of the story. But I never forget the incredible kindness of those people, and the miracle that that house was for me, just when I needed it. From a frightening situation, being threatened by my landlord, I found a house that was so much better, and a haven of peace and safety for me and my daughter, for a rent that they reduced to what I could afford. It gave me faith in miracles, and in the unexpected kindness of total strangers. I was thinking about it again the other day, and wanted to share it with you. The blessing of that experience has stayed with me in the many years since. It gives one faith that wonderful things can happen, when you least expect them, and need them most. And it occurred to me to share it with you, maybe it’s something you need to hear right now. Miracles DO happen, that certainly was one for me.

Have a great week, full of wonderful surprises, and random acts of kindness that come your way.

love, Danielle

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4/3/17, April Fool

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a good week, it’s been crazy busy and a full week. And by the time you read this, I’ll have survived another April Fool’s Day at the mercy of my children. Although usually reasonable and sensible people, they take full advantage of April Fool’s day, and have since they were kids. And they haven’t given it up yet. Since I’m usually running around busy, or deep in a book, I never remember what day it is, until the third call to bail one of my kid’s out of jail. JAIL???!!!!! Or the third call from one of my single daughters telling me that they’re pregnant. They’ve told me some lulus over the years, and I always believe them—until by sheer numbers, I realize what day it is. After all, they can’t ALL be in jail!!! They’ve pretended that they eloped to Las Vegas, or broken up with a girlfriend. Have announced that they got fired, and every time I try to be sympathetic, and then of course realize that I’ve been had. One of my daughters played an April Fool’s joke on her boss and nearly got fired years ago. And they trick each other too, no one is exempt in this group!!! They’ve gotten milder as they grow up, but they still can’t resist the temptation to start my day off with startling news!!! I should do the same to them, but never do.

Other than that, I’m really happy about how well my new book Dangerous Games is doing.  I’m soooo happy people are loving it!! I hope you’ve read it, or will soon!!!

And I’ve had a house guest for 3 days, one of my closest friends, so that has been wonderful!!!

I hope that all is going well for you, and that if you had any bad news, it was all April Fool’s jokes, and nothing more than that!!!! I’ll be travelling again this week…..I am definitely leading a nomadic life!!! Have a great week.

love, Danielle

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3/27/17, New York New York!!

Hi Everyone,

I hope everything is going well for you, and that you’re busy and having fun, and that good things are happening for you. I’ve been travelling a LOT lately, and writing a lot. I’ve been travelling for the last two months. And I just had a chance to do something I haven’t done in many many years, I just spent three weeks in New York. Usually I just fly through for a night or two on my way to San Francisco or Paris. This time family events required me to be in New York for several weeks, and it was a busy, fun experience. New York is always electric, more so than either San Francisco or Paris. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of time with three of my daughters, without rushing off the next day. They have busy lives too, and work hard, but we managed to carve out some really good time together. I LOVED it!! I always do. It reminded me though of all the reasons why I don’t want to live in New York. Although supposedly Spring, the weather was absolutely freeezzzing the entire time I was there. It snowed lightly once, and I was there for a blizzard, when the entire city was shut down, offices and schools were closed, and I got stuck in my hotel for three days, which gave me some unexpected time to do some writing. I edited three books during the weeks in New York, had a wonderful lunch with my publisher, which was terrific, and found time to visit a very dear friend whom I hadn’t seen in too long, a remarkable woman!!! And I appeared on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts, which is always a major treat for me. My newest book “Dangerous Games” came out in hardcover a few days before I got to New York, and it was #1 on the bestseller lists yesterday. I hope you’ve had a chance to read it. It’s a political thriller, a little different for me, and an exciting book full of twists and turns and surprises, some of which even surprised me!!! So it has been a busy few weeks!!! No fashion shows, just family, and a little business. And a lot of icy cold freezing weather, every single day (in the teens most of the time I was there.)

I’m off to see the rest of my children now, visit one of them in her city, and spend Easter with the ones who’ll be around. I used to have green and blue and purple fingers for weeks after Easter, from dyeing eggs with my kids and making Easter baskets. I have to admit, I miss it!!! Now we have a grown up Easter brunch, although I provide rabbit ears for everyone who comes to lunch.

I’ve had my little Chihuahuas with me during all my travels, which is always fun for me. The puppy, Lili, is still driving Minnie and Blue crazy, she wants to play ALL the time, and they don’t. She has limitless energy, and we’re all hoping she settles down a little as she gets older!!! (Her favorite game is finding a box of Kleenex, and shredding it all over the house into a million little pieces!!)

So that’s what I’ve been up to, blizzards and New York, and family. It’s been a really lovely few weeks, and I’ll be starting a new book soon. I hope you have time to read Dangerous Games in the meantime. Have a fabulous week ahead—-hopefully without a snow storm!!

love, Danielle

PS

I was just reading some of your recent responses to my blogs, and I’m always touched by the very nice things you say!!! A few things came up that I wanted to respond to, so I am adding a PS to today’s blog.

One lady said that her happiest Valentine’s Day EVER was bringing her baby home from the hospital on that day. Me TOO!!! I brought my son Maxx home from the hospital on Valentine’s Day!!! He was 4 days old. Such happy times!!!

Another person said that they would like to see more photos. There’s an explanation for that. I don’t have a Smart phone, I am not high tech, and you would laugh if you could see my phone, which doesn’t take pictures!! I have a tiny little Nokia phone from around the year 2000. You can drop it off a building and it never breaks. It’s very small, and when someone calls me, or I have a message, it lights up. I’ve had several of them, and when they wear out, I find another one of the same vintage on the Internet, so I have been stubborn about not getting a Smart Phone—-which is why I don’t take pictures with my phone!!! But I will try to send more pictures, with someone else’s phone!!

Someone else asked why I don’t write series, or sequels to my books. (I would LOVE to write a TV series, but haven’t yet). And I’ve discussed writing sequels to my books, but I like wrapping a story up all neatly and tie up all the loose ends. And I’m always hesitant to write sequels, so that people don’t say, “nah…I liked the first one better…” I don’t like comparisons like that. So, for now, there are no sequels to the books. But you never know, that could change if I get inspired to write a sequel one day.

And the last question was a sad one. A young woman in France asked why I’ve never mentioned Julie Campbell again, the extraordinary woman who helped take care of my son Nick. I wrote about her in my book about Nick, His Bright Light, and she was a very, very important and much loved person in our lives. That story had a doubly sad ending. She fell into a deep depression after Nick’s death, and never recovered from it. Like Nick, she committed suicide not long after his death. It was a terrible loss to our family, and for hers. She left three young children and a loving husband, and we remain close to them. He remarried a wonderful woman, the children have grown up and all are doing well. She died after the book about Nick was published, and I was too shaken by her death myself, and it was just too sad news to share at the time. So she and Nick are together, and will always be greatly loved, and much missed.

So that answers some of the points you brought up. Take care, and talk to you next week!!

love, Danielle

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