Well, listeners actually did come! The room was full! Some of them were people I didn't even know!  I wasn't worried about the actual reading; it was more the "throwing my own party" angle that was getting me worked up. But there were writers, and diaspora friends, and kid-raising friends . . . even my next-door neighbor. I was mightily relieved.

So now I move on to the next big thing on the schedule: getting the boy back to college. We head for Vermont tomorrow, and I'll chug home on Sunday evening--a whirlwind of driving and hauling, with an overnight pit-stop to check in on my parents. So you may not hear from me for a couple of days.