Confirmed

My father’s father was a writer; his uncle was a writer too. This heritage courses through my veins, propelling me to sculpt words in the hope that they will be published someday. Prior to my dad’s death, I strived toward that end, in part because I felt that if my writing appeared in print, the grandfather I never knew would come alive for my dad again through his own daughter’s words. In my fantasy, Dad opened the Sunday magazine section of our major newspaper and discovered his daughter’s byline. It didn’t happen before he left us and yes, my work has made it into niche publications since. But I have continued to send pieces to that mainstream daily, convinced that success there will convey a tribute to my father and confirm my legitimacy as a writer.

So here is the thing.

Our daughter was confirmed in our church on Friday. This ceremony was the culmination of ten years of religious education with the final two focused on preparations for this event. To celebrate, we invited her Godparents for an early supper prior to the service, and the phone rang relentlessly while we were catching up. Grateful for caller ID, we ignored repeated attempts from “Private Callers” based out of Florida, rolling our eyes each time the phone chirped at us.

It rang one more time as I was crushing garlic for scampi. Wiping my hands, I reached to turn off the ringer but caught a glimpse at the caller ID display indicating an unknown local number instead of the toll free digits that had been plaguing us all afternoon.

I do believe in intuition and mine told me to pick it up.

And, as it turns out, it was an editor from The Boston Globe Magazine, the publication which has politely ignored the pieces that I have been submitting for the last several years. You see, I wrote an essay last Sunday, edited it like crazy Monday and Tuesday and sent it in on Wednesday. The Friday call was an acceptance.

After cheers all around for our daughter’s accomplishment and an unexpected champagne toast for me, my husband said: “I know the name of your next blog entry. You can call it ‘Confirmed.’”

And so it is.

This one is dedicated to Tuck.