Danielle Steel's Blog, page 41

6/15/15 A Different Kind of White Magic

Hi Everyone,

I recently had one of those great fun experiences that I love to share with you. I’ve told you before about the White Dinner that I go to in Paris every year. Six people organize it, thousands of people are invited and attend (by invitation only). They are told at roughly 6:30 pm to come to a meeting place bringing a table, 2 chairs, their meal, it must be elegant and not a picnic, and you must be wearing white from head to foot (It was started about 26 years ago, by a naval officer, who invited friends to join him and his wife for their anniversary, in front of one of the monuments in Paris. And it has become an annual tradition since then). You must go to the meeting place at 7:30 pm, you stand around with your friends, or strangers, and at 8:45 pm, you are told the REAL location of the dinner, always about a 5 or 10 minute walk away from the meeting point, (carrying all your equipment, table, chairs and meal). And the dinner is held in front of one of Paris’ spectacular monuments. This was my fourth one, invited by a close friend who invites me every year—-and you are invited as a couple, so there must be two of you—–and I have been to the White Dinner in front of Notre Dame Cathedral (which was beyond spectacular!!), in front of the Louvre amid the glass pyramids all lit up, and last year on the vast lawn in front of the Invalides. The group has gotten so large over the years, that I believe it reached 14,000 by last year, divided into 2 groups, at 2 locations. The remarkable thing about it is that it is kept secret until the last minute, thousands of people show up wearing only white, NO ONE ever tries to crash the event, and with the backdrop of the monuments of Paris, it is an exquisitely beautiful event visually, and everyone behaves impeccably. By 9 pm you reach your final destination.

White Dinner 2015

You set up your table WITH tablecloth and napkins, candles, real plates and glasses and cutlery (NO picnic stuff), and by 9:15 you are seated. It is done with minute precision, when you arrive you are assigned a spot just big enough for your small folding table for two, and you have to set it down where they tell you. You can’t wing it, or decide you prefer a different spot. The table locations are assigned in long, long rows, and when the organizers point to H127, or B223, that’s where you set up, not ten feet away from it, or somewhere else where you spot a friend. The spots are calculated by the inch. The small tables for 2 form a long line of diners, women on one side, men on the other. And as you begin the meal in the festive atmosphere, darkness falls, candles are lit on the tables. And at midnight, you are handed sparklers, you stand and hold them aloft, and the entire location is lit by candlelight and sparklers, a truly dazzling sight. There is music after that if you want to dance. And some years, people have brought beautiful Chinese paper lanterns that they light and sail up into the night sky. And the final rule is that The White Dinner ends at 1 am, at 1am like Cinderella (only an hour later), your stuff must be packed up, you have to leave the location IMMACULATE, not a shred of paper, cigarette butt (it’s France!!), wine cork or so much as a raisin can be lying around where you were. You take your garbage with you, and as the evening ends, there must be NO evidence that anyone was ever there. The event is not to disrespect the city or create clean up work for others, it is to celebrate the beauty of the city, and respect it unfailingly. Every single time I have been, it has been absolutely magical, and one of the most exciting nights of my life. Last year and the year before, I think there were 10,000 people at the location where I was, but it didn’t look like that many. It is NEVER rowdy, but just pure good respectful fun, and it amazes me that no one tries to crash. The night is all about respect, for each other and the city. (The event has been imitated in other cities, but Paris is the original one.

This year, when I spoke to the friend who always invites me, he told me that they were going to try and slim the numbers down, the event had just gotten too big, so fewer people were going to be invited, though still in the thousands. And after the sad terrorist attacks last winter, I asked if there were any security concerns, and my friend admitted that there were some. Paris was tense for many months after those tragic events, but the White Dinner was still on, and the date was set. Technically, it is an ‘illegal’ event, because there are no permits or permissions for it. People arrive en masse to sit down and eat dinner in a public place, but it’s such a benign happy event that the police cruise by it from time to time, but turn a blind eye to it, and don’t interfere. And I have never seen any kind of argument or brawl while there. People are all dressed up and on their best behaviour.

And as always, I got ready for the night with great excitement, figured out what I was going to wear, and the friend I bring every year is a great cook, and plans the food. I provide the table setting, candles, etc. And I will confess that I was a little anxious that something could happen, in the same vein as the attacks earlier this year, but I didn’t want to voice my fears again. So we went to the meeting place, in Les Halles, a somewhat industrial area in the first arrondissement.(I haven’t been at a White Dinner at the Eiffel Tower, and hope I get to do that one day) I couldn’t figure out which monument we were headed to. The crowd still looked pretty big, and at the appointed hour we headed toward the Louvre, the big museum, about a 10 or 15 minute walk from where we were. (And you pull your supplies along in a grocery caddy. And one of you carries the folding table and chairs. Fortunately not me, since mine are very heavy!!)

We headed toward the Louvre Museum (once the palace of The French Court), to dine in what is called “La Cour Carre”, the square courtyard, and you have to access it through a gate. And even before we reached it, word rippled through the crowd: someone, either the police, or the museum people had closed and locked the gates. We were shut out. This was a first!! Now what, as about 6,000 people began to back up, pulling their caddies full of dinner, and folding tables. But guests at the White Dinner are resourceful. I was part of a large group, and they immediately decided to walk another block or two to the Palais Royal, one of the original palaces of Paris in the days of the kings before The Revolution. So we shifted direction and kept walking. There are shops on the ground floor of the Palais Royal now, and apartments on the upper floors, it is a large rectangle with a huge beautiful garden in the middle with gravel areas and paths, and lovely trees within the courtyard. We arrived there, and without specific assignments, people very politely set up their tables in long rows. But it wasn’t quite as orderly as usual, people were startled to have to find an alternate location, and within minutes thousands began to arrive in orderly fashion and set up their tables. Some put them under the trees, which looked like a magical forest once the candles were lit.

Others were out in the open. Everyone found a place to set up, and there must have been four or five thousand people there. It seemed louder than usual, and the rows of tables were a little more free form. Some people had hired small orchestras, and by 9:30 everyone was seated, as always, but it was different in the alternate location, it didn’t quite have the military precision of the past. But in no time at all, everyone was eating dinner by candlelight and had a wonderful time.

So the White Dinner couldn’t be stopped, it had found another beautiful home for the night, and everyone was excited to be there. My group left at midnight instead of 1 am, and we left our area spotless, as I’m sure others did too, following all the rules. So the magic continued after all, and I thought the Palais Royal was even prettier than the Louvre would have been in the Cour Carre. It was a tribute to being resourceful for a night that has great meaning to Parisians, and even visitors. As they always do, several people had flown in from other countries around Europe, England, Poland, Italy, Spain, one couple flies in from India every year. It is always a special night, and it was this year too…even if the location wasn’t the one originally planned. And with the true magic of the night, the weather was perfect, balmy and warm, although storms had been predicted. And five minutes after I got home, still marveling at the beauty of the night, I heard the rain begin outside my windows. Even the rain held off until the White Dinner was over, with great respect for the thousands of diners…what a beautiful night…it always is, even if slightly different this year. The White Dinner never lets us down. And the magic is always there to thrill us all!!!

love, Danielle

The post 6/15/15 A Different Kind of White Magic appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

6/15/15 “A Different Kind of White Magic”

Hi Everyone,

I recently had one of those great fun experiences that I love to share with you. I’ve told you before about the White Dinner that I go to in Paris every year. Six people organize it, thousands of people are invited and attend (by invitation only). They are told at roughly 6:30 pm to come to a meeting place bringing a table, 2 chairs, their meal, it must be elegant and not a picnic, and you must be wearing white from head to foot (It was started about 26 years ago, by a naval officer, who invited friends to join him and his wife for their anniversary, in front of one of the monuments in Paris. And it has become an annual tradition since then). You must go to the meeting place at 7:30 pm, you stand around with your friends, or strangers, and at 8:45 pm, you are told the REAL location of the dinner, always about a 5 or 10 minute walk away from the meeting point, (carrying all your equipment, table, chairs and meal). And the dinner is held in front of one of Paris’ spectacular monuments. This was my fourth one, invited by a close friend who invites me every year—-and you are invited as a couple, so there must be two of you—–and I have been to the White Dinner in front of Notre Dame Cathedral (which was beyond spectacular!!), in front of the Louvre amid the glass pyramids all lit up, and last year on the vast lawn in front of the Invalides. The group has gotten so large over the years, that I believe it reached 14,000 by last year, divided into 2 groups, at 2 locations. The remarkable thing about it is that it is kept secret until the last minute, thousands of people show up wearing only white, NO ONE ever tries to crash the event, and with the backdrop of the monuments of Paris, it is an exquisitely beautiful event visually, and everyone behaves impeccably. By 9pm you reach your final destination. You set up your table WITH tablecloth and napkins, candles, real plates and glasses and cutlery (NO picnic stuff), and by 9:15 you are seated. It is done with minute precision, when you arrive you are assigned a spot just big enough for your small folding table for two, and you have to set it down where they tell you. You can’t wing it, or decide you prefer a different spot. The table locations are assigned in long, long rows, and when the organizers point to H127, or B223, that’s where you set up, not ten feet away from it, or somewhere else where you spot a friend. The spots are calculated by the inch. The small tables for 2 form a long line of diners, women on one side, men on the other. And as you begin the meal in the festive atmosphere, darkness falls, candles are lit on the tables. And at midnight, you are handed sparklers, you stand and hold them aloft, and the entire location is lit by candlelight and sparklers, a truly dazzling sight. There is music after that if you want to dance. And some years, people have brought beautiful Chinese paper lanterns that they light and sail up into the night sky. And the final rule is that The White Dinner ends at 1 am, at 1am like Cinderella (only an hour later), your stuff must be packed up, you have to leave the location IMMACULATE, not a shred of paper, cigarette butt (it’s France!!), wine cork or so much as a raisin can be lying around where you were. You take your garbage with you, and as the evening ends, there must be NO evidence that anyone was ever there. The event is not to disrespect the city or create clean up work for others, it is to celebrate the beauty of the city, and respect it unfailingly. Every single time I have been, it has been absolutely magical, and one of the most exciting nights of my life. Last year and the year before, I think there were 10,000 people at the location where I was, but it didn’t look like that many. It is NEVER rowdy, but just pure good respectful fun, and it amazes me that no one tries to crash. The night is all about respect, for each other and the city. (The event has been imitated in other cities, but Paris is the original one.

This year, when I spoke to the friend who always invites me, he told me that they were going to try and slim the numbers down, the event had just gotten too big, so fewer people were going to be invited, though still in the thousands. And after the sad terrorist attacks last winter, I asked if there were any security concerns, and my friend admitted that there were some. Paris was tense for many months after those tragic events, but the White Dinner was still on, and the date was set. Technically, it is an ‘illegal’ event, because there are no permits or permissions for it. People arrive en masse to sit down and eat dinner in a public place, but it’s such a benign happy event that the police cruise by it from time to time, but turn a blind eye to it, and don’t interfere. And I have never seen any kind of argument or brawl while there. People are all dressed up and on their best behaviour.

And as always, I got ready for the night with great excitement, figured out what I was going to wear, and the friend I bring every year is a great cook, and plans the food. I provide the table setting, candles, etc. And I will confess that I was a little anxious that something could happen, in the same vein as the attacks earlier this year, but I didn’t want to voice my fears again. So we went to the meeting place, in Les Halles, a somewhat industrial area in the first arrondissement. I couldn’t figure out which monument we were headed to. (I haven’t been at a White Dinner at the Eiffel Tower, and hope I get to do that one day). The crowd still looked pretty big, and at the appointed hour we headed toward the Louvre, the big museum, about a 10 or 15 minute walk from where we were. (And you pull your supplies along in a grocery caddy. And one of you carries the folding table and chairs. Fortunately not me, since mine are very heavy!!)

We headed toward the Louvre Museum (once the palace of The French Court), to dine in what is called “La Cour Carre”, the square courtyard, and you have to access it through a gate. And even before we reached it, word rippled through the crowd: someone, either the police, or the museum people had closed and locked the gates. We were shut out. This was a first!! Now what, as about 6,000 people began to back up, pulling their caddies full of dinner, and folding tables. But guests at the White Dinner are resourceful. I was part of a large group, and they immediately decided to walk another block or two to the Palais Royal, one of the original palaces of Paris in the days of the kings before The Revolution. So we shifted direction and kept walking. There are shops on the ground floor of the Palais Royal now, and apartments on the upper floors, it is a large rectangle with a huge beautiful garden in the middle with gravel areas and paths, and lovely trees within the courtyard. We arrived there, and without specific assignments, people very politely set up their tables in long rows. But it wasn’t quite as orderly as usual, people were startled to have to find an alternate location, and within minutes thousands began to arrive in orderly fashion and set up their tables. Some put them under the trees, which looked like a magical forest once the candles were lit. Others were out in the open. Everyone found a place to set up, and there must have been four or five thousand people there. It seemed louder than usual, and the rows of tables were a little more free form. Some people had hired small orchestras, and by 9:30 everyone was seated, as always, but it was different in the alternate location, it didn’t quite have the military precision of the past. But in no time at all, everyone was eating dinner by candlelight and had a wonderful time. So the White Dinner couldn’t be stopped, it had found another beautiful home for the night, and everyone was excited to be there. My group left at midnight instead of 1 am, and we left our area spotless, as I’m sure others did too, following all the rules. So the magic continued after all, and I thought the Palais Royal was even prettier than the Louvre would have been in the Cour Carre. It was a tribute to being resourceful for a night that has great meaning to Parisians, and even visitors. As they always do, several people had flown in from other countries around Europe, England, Poland, Italy, Spain, one couple flies in from India every year. It is always a special night, and it was this year too…even if the location wasn’t the one originally planned. And with the true magic of the night, the weather was perfect, balmy and warm, although storms had been predicted. And five minutes after I got home, still marveling at the beauty of the night, I heard the rain begin outside my windows. Even the rain held off until the White Dinner was over, with great respect for the thousands of diners…what a beautiful night…it always is, even if slightly different this year. The White Dinner never lets us down. And the magic is always there to thrill us all!!!

love, Danielle

The post 6/15/15 “A Different Kind of White Magic” appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

6/8/15, Laughing Out Loud

Hi Everyone,

I love a good laugh, and having a sense of humor always gets me through the ups and downs of life. My father used to say I had a banana peel sense of humor, and I have to admit I do. It must be hereditary, because he had an outrageous sense of humor, and so do most of my kids. (They have always tortured me on April Fool, with THE MOST outrageous tricks and pranks). I’m not a practical joker, but there is nothing I like more than a good laugh. And as you know, I love quotes, clever, touching, wise, inspirational, or funny things people have said. I have a brilliant literary agent, who is wonderful at what he does, and among the many things I love about him is his sense of humor. He tells the best jokes. He recently sent me these quotes, which had me laughing out loud when I read them. And I thought you might enjoy them too. Have a great week!!!

love, Danielle

– “As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind: Every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.” John Glenn

– “America is the only country where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real, but the moon landing was faked.” David Letterman

– “I’m not a paranoid, deranged millionaire. I’m a billionaire.” Howard Hughes

– “The only reason they say ‘Women and Children First’ is to test the strength of the lifeboats.” Jean Kerr

– “I’ve been married to a Communist and a Fascist, and neither would take out the garbage.” Zsa Zsa Gabor

– “When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s a either a new car or a new wife.” Prince Phillip

– “Lawyers believe a man is innocent until proven broke.” Robin Hal

– “Having more money doesn’t make you happier. I have 50 million dollars, but I’m just as happy as when I had 48 million.” Arnold Schwarzenegger

– “We are here on earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea.” WH Auden

– “If life were fair, Elvis would still be alive today, and all the impersonators would be dead.” Johnny Carson.

– “Home cooking is where many a man thinks his wife is.” Jimmy Durante

– “If God had intended us to fly, he would have made it easier to get to the airport.” Jonathan Winters

The post 6/8/15, Laughing Out Loud appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

6/1/15, Rising Above the Clouds

Hi Everyone,

How are you?? All is good with you, I hope!!!

The week has been insanely busy yet again. The bats flying in the windows are not quite as large, but it’s the tennis game of life, where a problem heads at us, we hit it to the opposite side of the court, it comes back at us again, and back and forth it goes, until eventually it’s solved, but sometimes that takes time. Also, if you have a big life, with a lot of people in it, inevitably, a lot of “stuff” happens that you have to deal with every day. I wear many hats in my daily life. I’m an employer, and also an employee of sorts, since I produce work for a publishing house, several of them in many countries and they pay me, so that makes me an employee and they make the rules, as employers do. I work with and for many people, with different personalities and opinions. I am the mother of eight adults, who are wonderful people, but I worry about them at times, as mothers do, and we don’t always agree either (although they are extremely reasonable and nice people!!). But there are bound to be bumps in our lives. And then there are the people in the outer circle of one’s life who are difficult, or jealous, or not always honest, who can really make our lives miserable if they work at it. It’s a lot of balls to keep in the air. And even if you’re a Mom at home, driving car pool for three kids, and trying to get them to school on time, and their soccer games, and make sure they do their homework and are doing okay in school, you have your hands full. We all do. And there are plenty of opportunities for challenges every day. If you live alone in an apartment you haven’t left in 10 years, have one single artificial plant, and a plastic fish, your life should be pretty simple. But anything more than that and you’re going to be dealing with difficult things at times—-and also opportunities for great things. But life moves fast these days, and most of us do wear several hats and we have to switch gears constantly, as partner, parent, employee, employer, friend. Just keeping up with texts and emails takes a lot of time out of our day. And some days, I feel like I will never catch up, and probably you feel that way too. Not to mention the people who encroach on our lives, don’t wish us well, intrude on us, and really put some energy into messing up our day, and there are people like that in all our lives too. (I wish they would find something else to do!!! and stay away from me!!).

I was reminded of an insight I had a year or two ago when I was flying somewhere. I got on the plane in a driving rainstorm, the weather was absolutely awful. Gray weather, hard rain, thunder, and when the plane took off, a lot of bumps and turbulence. It seemed like it was going to be a miserable flight, and it was hard to believe that there was sun anywhere in the world. We bumped around for about ten or fifteen minutes, as the storm raged on, and we went through a huge ceiling of clouds as we gained altitude, and suddenly the plane pierced through the clouds, and we were in the bluest sky I’d ever seen, with brilliant sun all around us. The storm and the clouds were below us, the turbulence stopped, and we flew on our way in gorgeous weather, on a smooth flight to our destination. As we came through the clouds that day into the blue sunny skies, I suddenly realized how similar to life it was, we are buried in our problems, drenched to the skin in a driving rain, we hear thunder above us, and the whole world seems dark, and suddenly we come through the clouds into a golden day. It’s hard to remember that there are blue skies up there and bright sunshine when all we see is evidence of the storm. Some clouds take longer to get through, some problems are harder to solve. Even a bad cold or flu or a sprained ankle can make us feel lousy and as though we’ll never feel better again. Or a more serious health problem can take longer to go away, or a relationship problem, or something with our kids, or problems on the job. But sooner or later, we get through those clouds, back into sunshine and blue skies, and we realize that the dark horizons are not the only view of the world. Somewhere up there, are sunny skies and better days, and the problems will be solved. It was a great reminder to me that even when you can’t see the blue skies, they’re there. I tend to be very Johnny One Note in my view of life, if things are hard or not going well, I forget that the problems will get solved. I get impatient and tired of feeling miserable. But when we’re back in those blue skies, there is nothing better. We all need to remember that the blue skies are there, even when we can’t see them, and the storm will pass.

I don’t usually respond to individual questions in this blog, although I wish I could. But a very kind woman wrote in the comments recently that she lost her son a year ago and she is still very sad. I know how hard that is and I’ve been there myself. I still miss my son Nick terribly after many years. But the first year is the hardest, and it will get better with time. Eventually you find your peace about it, and even though you miss them, you cherish the good times and the missing isn’t the agony that it was at first. I just wanted to encourage her to hang on, and know that the sorrow will be gentled by time.

And for the rest of us, with smaller everyday problems, the storm will end, and we will come through the clouds and they will be below us as we sail into blue sunny skies. It’s a good thing to keep in mind. Have a great week!!

Love, Danielle

The post 6/1/15, Rising Above the Clouds appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

5/25/15, Memorial Day

Hi Everyone,

I hope you have a day off today, and are enjoying early summer activities and good pre-summer weather somewhere.

Memorial Day has several ‘layers’ to it, and meanings to many of us. On the light side, it’s the first landmark of summer, and unofficially marks the beginning of summer, even though officially it’s still several weeks away. For people with country homes, you start dragging out the outdoor furniture, getting the barbecue ready, cleaning up the damage and debris of winter, and sprucing things up for the summer (power washing, and painting things that got battered during the winter months and harsher weather). My husband and I used to work hard for all of Memorial Day weekend, doing all those things, getting our country home ready for the summer. Spring cleaning, and getting things ready for our kids. It’s a hopeful sign that summer is almost here.

It’s also a day to remember veterans, and people who have served in the Armed Forces, and those who lost their lives defending our country, and those still surviving. The two veterans I know best are a 93 year old friend who served in World War II, has fascinating history to share, and marches in a Memorial Day parade every year, and will again today. And a wonderful woman friend, who served nine years in the Navy, is a psychologist, deeply involved in the field of mental health, and a really extraordinary woman. Two VERY impressive veterans.

And in a broader sense we remember and honor our lost loved ones, or people we respect and knew. Too many come to mind this year. I got a beautiful photograph this week of Robin Williams, from his family, with a quote from “The Little Prince” and a poem by e.e.cummings. I smiled, looking at the photograph of him, and stopped to think about him. What a terrible loss it was when he died last August, and what an amazing legacy he has left us with his films. How many times he made us laugh, or brought a tear to our eye with a tender moment. The elegance of Oscar de la Renta, with so much charm, wit, brilliance, and style. The loss of so many innocent people, with the recent Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, and the German plane brought down in the Alps, which took 150 innocent people with it. It’s a lot to digest, think about, and remember. And on a more personal level, the people we knew personally and cherished, who have gone on. A little boy lost to friends recently, a week before his first birthday, born with a severe heart defect. And my own son Nick, who died at nineteen, full of talent, and charm, funny and handsome, the light and love of our lives, as he always will be.

It’s a day to remember them…to reflect on how precious life is, how lucky we were to know them, how they added to our lives, whether people we actually knew and loved, or our lives were enriched by them with the talents they contributed to the world, or if veterans who defended our country. It’s good to remember, and to honor them…and then to go on getting ready for the joys of summer, with so much to look forward to, good times ahead, and happy days. Life is so precious, and to be enjoyed to the fullest. Have a wonderful Memorial Day, whatever you’re doing today…

love, Danielle

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5/25/15, Rising Above the Clouds

Hi Everyone,

How are you?? All is good with you, I hope!!!

The week has been insanely busy yet again. The bats flying in the windows are not quite as large, but it’s the tennis game of life, where a problem heads at us, we hit it to the opposite side of the court, it comes back at us again, and back and forth it goes, until eventually it’s solved, but sometimes that takes time. Also, if you have a big life, with a lot of people in it, inevitably, a lot of “stuff” happens that you have to deal with every day. I wear many hats in my daily life. I’m an employer, and also an employee of sorts, since I produce work for a publishing house, several of them in many countries and they pay me, so that makes me an employee and they make the rules, as employers do. I work with and for many people, with different personalities and opinions. I am the mother of eight adults, who are wonderful people, but I worry about them at times, as mothers do, and we don’t always agree either (although they are extremely reasonable and nice people!!). But there are bound to be bumps in our lives. And then there are the people in the outer circle of one’s life who are difficult, or jealous, or not always honest, who can really make our lives miserable if they work at it. It’s a lot of balls to keep in the air. And even if you’re a Mom at home, driving car pool for three kids, and trying to get them to school on time, and their soccer games, and make sure they do their homework and are doing okay in school, you have your hands full. We all do. And there are plenty of opportunities for challenges every day. If you live alone in an apartment you haven’t left in 10 years, have one single artificial plant, and a plastic fish, your life should be pretty simple. But anything more than that and you’re going to be dealing with difficult things at times—-and also opportunities for great things. But life moves fast these days, and most of us do wear several hats and we have to switch gears constantly, as partner, parent, employee, employer, friend. Just keeping up with texts and emails takes a lot of time out of our day. And some days, I feel like I will never catch up, and probably you feel that way too. Not to mention the people who encroach on our lives, don’t wish us well, intrude on us, and really put some energy into messing up our day, and there are people like that in all our lives too. (I wish they would find something else to do!!! and stay away from me!!)

I was reminded of an insight I had a year or two ago when I was flying somewhere. I got on the plane in a driving rainstorm, the weather was absolutely awful. Gray weather, hard rain, thunder, and when the plane took off, a lot of bumps and turbulence. It seemed like it was going to be a miserable flight, and it was hard to believe that there was sun anywhere in the world. We continued to bump around for about ten or fifteen minutes, as the storm continued, and we went through a huge ceiling of clouds as we gained altitude, and suddenly the plane pierced through the clouds, and we were in the bluest sky I’d ever seen, with brilliant sun all around us. The storm and the clouds were below us, the turbulence stopped, and we continued on our way in gorgeous weather, on a smooth flight to our destination. As we came through the clouds that day into the blue sunny skies, I suddenly realized how similar to life it was, we are buried in our problems, drenched to the skin in a driving rain, we hear thunder above us, and the whole world seems dark, and suddenly we come through the clouds into a golden day. It’s hard to remember that there are blue skies up there and bright sunshine when all we see is evidence of the storm. Some clouds take longer to get through, some problems are harder to solve. Even a bad cold or flu or a sprained ankle can make us feel lousy and as though we’ll never feel better again. Or a more serious health problem can take longer to go away, or a relationship problem, or something with our kids, or problems on the job. But sooner or later, we get through those clouds, back into sunshine and blue skies, and we realize that the dark horizons are not the only view of the world. Somewhere up there, are sunny skies and better days, and the problems will be solved. It was a great reminder to me that even when you can’t see the blue skies, they’re there. I tend to be very Johnny One Note in my view of life, if things are hard or not going well, I forget that the problems will get solved. I get impatient and tired of feeling miserable. But when we’re back in those blue skies, there is nothing better. We all need to remember that the blue skies are there, even when we can’t see them, and the storm will pass.

I don’t usually respond to individual questions in this blog, although I wish I could. But a very kind woman wrote in the comments recently that she lost her son a year ago and she is still very sad. I know how hard that is and I’ve been there myself. I still miss my son Nick terribly after many years. But the first year is the hardest, and it will get better with time. Eventually you find your peace about it, and even though you miss them, you cherish the good times and the missing isn’t the agony that it was at first. I just wanted to encourage her to hang on, and know that the sorrow will be gentled by time.

And for the rest of us, with smaller everyday problems, the storm will end, and we will come through the clouds and they will be below us as we sail into blue sunny skies. It’s a good thing to keep in mind. Have a great week!! Love, Danielle

Love, Danielle

The post 5/25/15, Rising Above the Clouds appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

5/18/15, Woman In Gold

Hi Everyone,

How are you?? All is good with you, I hope!!!

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day with my kids a week ago, and felt very spoiled. Brunch at home, and dinner out with some of them, and one flew in specially, and I had had a lovely time in New York before that with two of my girls. We have passed the stage of macaroni necklaces and Kleenex boxes decorated with flowers and beads (which I loved and kept them all!!), and I always miss that and remember it fondly, but sometimes it’s nice having grown up kids that you can really spend time with and enjoy. So I had a great one, which I really appreciated. My kids saw to it that I had a great time and was spoiled!!! And felt very loved, just as I love them.

I don’t very often get a chance to go to movies, since I usually work at night, but I had finished a big block of work this week, and decided to treat myself to a little time off, and on the spur of the moment went to a late movie when I finished work. I had heard the name of the movie, but didn’t know much about it, “Woman in Gold”, with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. It’s a true story about an Austrian woman, from a previously wealthy Jewish family in Vienna, before the war, that lost everything they had to the Nazis. They had a beautiful home in Vienna, and collected spectacular, famous and very valuable works of art. They had collected the work of Gustav Klimt, whose paintings I have always loved. They are mostly gold, typical of the 1930’s, with beautiful women in them. One of my favorite ones is called “The Kiss”. And in fact, I’ve used one of the Klimt paintings as art work on a book cover, when it seemed appropriate. And in the case of the woman the movie is about, one of Klimt’s most famous paintings of a beautiful woman was a portrait of her aunt.

The Klimt paintings, along with all their valuable possessions, were taken from this family by the Nazis. The woman the movie is about fled Austria when the Nazis occupied it, with her husband (they were newlyweds), and her cousin fled too. They wound up in America, and it seems as though the rest of the family was lost to the Nazis during the war. And after the war, the Klimt paintings turned up in a museum in Vienna, which claimed that they belonged to them now and would not give them up.

Through a friend, the Austrian woman connects with a young American lawyer, the son of a friend of hers, and he embarks on a battle with her to reclaim the paintings that once belonged to her family, and should rightfully belong to her, as the last survivor of the family, but because of their enormous value now, and great artistic importance, the Austrians put up a fierce fight to keep them. And this woman and her young lawyer fight hard to win them back. Many people in Austria put obstacles in her path, others help her. And the movie is the moving story of her fight to regain what is rightfully hers, through miles of red tape. The family had lost all of their money during the war, taken by the Nazis, and she has led a simple life ever since, but with great dignity. Helen Mirren plays the role of the Austrian woman with breathtaking brilliance, in a deeply moving performance, and Ryan Reynolds (handsome hunk that he is, always one of my favorites) gives a fantastic and also very moving performance as the young lawyer.

It’s an exciting story to watch them fight for what is right, as her memories overcome her of the loved ones she lost. It is an absolutely beautiful movie, one of the best I’ve ever seen, performed by remarkably talented actors, in a true story filled with drama, suspense and poignancy, and to see how it turns out in the end. There’s a wonderful line in one of the young lawyer’s arguments to the court, that the woman seeking her paintings back came to America in wartime to find peace, and she deserves justice now as well. The whole movie touched me greatly, and I sat riveted to my seat, and it has haunted me since I saw it. If it’s playing anywhere in your area, please go. You wont be disappointed. It is a truly wonderful movie!!!

love, Danielle

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5/11/15, Lovable

Hi Everyone,

You know my love for and fascination with words. The words ‘love’ and ‘hope’ always resonate for me, and for most of us. But ‘lovable’ is a word I discovered later in life, and never realized the importance of it for a long time. We talk about being loved (by someone), or loving someone or something. We LOVE ice cream, chocolate, sunny days, vacations, (shoes!!), our friends, our children, and hopefully the person we are married to or dating. We tell people how LOVED they are. We talk about certain people being very LOVING. But we seldom talk about, or think about being LOVABLE. And that’s a real stumbling block for some. We want to be loved, who doesn’t—–but do we believe, truly believe, in the depths of our gut, that we are lovable? Do we believe that we are lovable, and worthy of being loved? We focus on our flaws, and sometimes our loved ones are quick to remind us what they are, we don’t do this or that right, we forget to take out the garbage, lock the front door, or walk the dog. We make a mess here and there. Some of us come from deeply critical families, whose favorite sport is tearing others apart, or comparing us unfavorably to others. Unhappy mates tell us everything that’s wrong with us, and blame us for what goes wrong in a relationship. We don’t do as well as we plan to in life, didn’t get the promotion we want, or don’t feel we are paid enough (and make less money than our sister, husband/wife, best friend or neighbour). We haven’t had a date in 6 months or a year, or our boyfriend/girlfriend dumped us, or we got divorced. And what that all adds up to is that somewhere in our heart of hearts, we feel unlovable: undeserving of the love we want and hope for and need to thrive. We secretly believe we are second rate, or tenth rate, or no rate, and everyone else seems lovable, but us.

Knowing that you are lovable, believing that you are, and feeling it, is one of the most important things you will ever do. Because until you feel lovable, truly LOVABLE (and worthy of being loved), you will put up an invisible shield that will prevent you from receiving the full benefit of the love you want and deserve. You DESERVE to be loved, you are worthy of it, you don’t have more faults and flaws than anyone else, and you may make less money than your sister or brother, but you may make WAY more than somebody else. And everything that’s wrong in your relationship is unlikely to be all your fault. Parents who criticized us too much, or constantly, do a lot of damage, because we grow up believing that we aren’t lovable, and don’t deserve to be loved fully. It is a life’s work to truly believe that YOU ARE LOVABLE.

I found a wooden sign at an art fair once about 15 years ago, it wasn’t a pretty sign, and it had a smiling little girl’s face on it, and all it said on it was the single word “Lovable”. I stared at it for a long time, and even though it wasn’t a thing of beauty, I bought it. I hung it in my beach house, which I sold last year, and when I sold the house, I put it in my city home, where I could see it from my bed. It doesn’t match the decor in my room, but that doesn’t matter. And sometimes I used to borrow it from the beach house, and bring it to the city for a while, if I thought I needed to be reminded.

Not everyone in the world is lovable, except you. Everyone doesn’t deserve love or happiness, except you. Believe that you are lovable, tell it to yourself, breathe it into you, and know that you are worthy of being loved, just the way you want to be. YOU ARE LOVABLE. Remember it. Cherish it. Know it. Believe it. Say it to yourself, over and over again until it becomes part of you. You ARE lovable. We all are (even if we are not perfect at times). You are lovable. I know that and believe it about you. Trust me…..and you will find that it’s true. LOVABLE. Hang onto that word; it’s a keeper and a winner!!! And we all need it.

love, Danielle

The post 5/11/15, Lovable appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

Blog 5/11/15, Lovable

Hi Everyone,

You know my love for and fascination with words. The words ‘love’ and ‘hope’ always resonate for me, and for most of us. But ‘lovable’ is a word I discovered later in life, and never realized the importance of it for a long time. We talk about being loved (by someone), or loving someone or something. We LOVE ice cream, chocolate, sunny days, vacations, (shoes!!), our friends, our children, and hopefully the person we are married to or dating. We tell people how LOVED they are. We talk about certain people being very LOVING. But we seldom talk about, or think about being LOVABLE. And that’s a real stumbling block for some. We want to be loved, who doesn’t—–but do we believe, truly believe, in the depths of our gut, that we are lovable? Do we believe that we are lovable, and worthy of being loved? We focus on our flaws, and sometimes our loved ones are quick to remind us what they are, we don’t do this or that right, we forget to take out the garbage, lock the front door, or walk the dog. We make a mess here and there. Some of us come from deeply critical families, whose favorite sport is tearing others apart, or comparing us unfavorably to others. Unhappy mates tell us everything that’s wrong with us, and blame us for what goes wrong in a relationship. We don’t do as well as we plan to in life, didn’t get the promotion we want, or don’t feel we are paid enough (and make less money than our sister, husband/wife, best friend or neighbour). We haven’t had a date in 6 months or a year, or our boyfriend/girlfriend dumped us, or we got divorced. And what that all adds up to is that somewhere in our heart of hearts, we feel unlovable: undeserving of the love we want and hope for and need to thrive. We secretly believe we are second rate, or tenth rate, or no rate, and everyone else seems lovable, but us.

Knowing that you are lovable, believing that you are, and feeling it, is one of the most important things you will ever do. Because until you feel lovable, truly LOVABLE (and worthy of being loved), you will put up an invisible shield that will prevent you from receiving the full benefit of the love you want and deserve. You DESERVE to be loved, you are worthy of it, you don’t have more faults and flaws than anyone else, and you may make less money than your sister or brother, but you may make WAY more than somebody else. And everything that’s wrong in your relationship is unlikely to be all your fault. Parents who criticized us too much, or constantly, do a lot of damage, because we grow up believing that we aren’t lovable, and don’t deserve to be loved fully. It is a life’s work to truly believe that YOU ARE LOVABLE.

I found a wooden sign at an art fair once about 15 years ago, it wasn’t a pretty sign, and it had a smiling little girl’s face on it, and all it said on it was the single word “Lovable”. I stared at it for a long time, and even though it wasn’t a thing of beauty, I bought it. I hung it in my beach house, which I sold last year, and when I sold the house, I put it in my city home, where I could see it from my bed. It doesn’t match the decor in my room, but that doesn’t matter. And sometimes I used to borrow it from the beach house, and bring it to the city for a while, if I thought I needed to be reminded.

Not everyone in the world is lovable, except you. Everyone doesn’t deserve love or happiness, except you. Believe that you are lovable, tell it to yourself, breathe it into you, and know that you are worthy of being loved, just the way you want to be. YOU ARE LOVABLE. Remember it. Cherish it. Know it. Believe it. Say it to yourself, over and over again until it becomes part of you. You ARE lovable. We all are (even if we are not perfect at times). You are lovable. I know that and believe it about you. Trust me…..and you will find that it’s true. LOVABLE. Hang onto that word; it’s a keeper and a winner!!! And we all need it.

love, Danielle

The post Blog 5/11/15, Lovable appeared first on daniellesteel.net.

5/4/15, “The Sun Will Shine Through Rain” (Nick Traina)

Hi Everyone,

I’m sorry I was a no show last week, I was busy writing, and am very happy with what I’ve been working on, and I hope you will be too. Writing is often where I take refuge from real life, and my own problems, it’s a world where I am comfortable, feel at ease, know how to solve the problems in the story, and sometimes when the writing soars, it is pure joy. After doing it for a long time, I still thoroughly enjoy what I do, even though it’s hard work and challenging at times, and even exhausting when I work 20 hour stretches on my old typewriter. Sometimes it’s almost like flying, as you rise above the clouds, and see things more clearly, about life, and intricate situations. And I always fall in love with the characters in the book, and they become real to me, just as they do to you. It’s probably because they do seem real to me that you feel that way too when you read the books. The characters I write about are always fictional, because it would be too limiting to base them on real people. So I’ve been having a great time writing, and I hope you like the book when you read it. (I never tell the story or the title beforehand. It’s more fun to keep it a surprise!! But I think you will love this one, as I do!!)

Other than that (the fun I had writing), I think it’s official, it was a tough week. There are worse things than having a bad week, but enough challenging things happened to finally make me say, okay…..this week was pretty damn hard. Some unexpected disappointments, a couple of worries, a few really unpleasant moments, a betrayal by people I trusted, which is always a heart breaking experience to some degree. Nothing was easy, everything was hard. When I was a kid, I had cousins in Spain, and when I visited them, at times they thought it was fun to open the window at night, in the country, bats would fly in, and they would bat them back out as they flew in, with their tennis rackets. A truly disgusting sport I never participated in with them. But this week was rather like that, the bats were flying in the window faster than I could bat them out. (And frankly, bats terrify me!! Yuk!!). I think the bats won this week, but you start all over again, and next week will undoubtedly be better. And along with the bad stuff, there are always unexpected touching moments. Nothing terrible happened this week, fortunately. It was just a lot of the kind of stuff that wears you down, and discourages you for a minute. It was a discouraging week. You have them too, I know (which is why the books resonate for you). And problems are like grapes, they always seem to come in bunches. On the up side this week was my writing, on the down side was real life.

To top it off, last Friday was my late son Nick’s birthday, May 1st. May Day is a happy day, lily of the valley (my favorite flower) is the symbol of the day, and his birthday was always a happy event. (He loved a party, and LOVED his birthday!!) The day is bittersweet now, because his absence is so sorely felt and we miss him so much. It’s a day filled with memories, and no matter how hard one tries to be philosophical about it, and grateful for the good times, the reality is that he’s gone, and that will always hurt, especially on special days, like his birthday. He was basically a happy person, with a wild sense of humor, and a huge heart, and a huge talent (for writing and music). He was a very bright light in our world, a brief comet across our skies, too brief, but that’s how comets are. They shoot through the sky, and too quickly they are gone. But he left us with powerful memories, and a million treasured moments, of happy times with him. It’s hard to be sad for long when you think about him (He had an enormous smile, laughed a lot, and made us laugh outrageously at times). But it was a hard day at the end of a hard week. As I always do, I had dinner with a few close friends that night, and we had a warm, cozy evening, and after spending time with friends, I felt better by the end of it. And my other children and I spoke many times during the day, and talked about Nick.

And Life always has a way of giving us unexpected gifts. Out of the blue, a friend of mine sent me some of the lyrics of one of Nick’s songs that he wrote, which said just what I needed to hear, in Nick’s own words:

“..everyone sees hardship

and everyone feels pain

and if anyone knows

it’s

you and me

that sun will shine through rain..

..and my shoulder is always

there

if you ever need to cry,

everything will turn out fine

because I will

always love you

until the day I die. ”

– Nick Traina

So, it’s a new week, and it IS going to be a good one, for all of us. We start fresh again, in hope and faith. NO BATS PLEASE!! I refuse to play that game again. Take good care, and may it be an easy happy week for you, filled with good news and joy!! Mother’s Day is at the end of this week. I hope it’s a good one!!! May it all be good this week!!

love, Danielle

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