Farewell Maurice, You Will Be Missed

I woke this morning to the sad news of the passing of one of my favorite author/illustrators. Maurice Sendak was a grumpy old man who made children smile. He said he never set out to make children happy, but he did. Maybe that’s the key. Not doing something just to make others happy, children or not. Just be who you are and be happy with yourself and somehow that’s enough.

I was sad when I heard he died, but reactions from others have made me smile. Savannah Guthrie tweeted, “A wild rumpus in heaven today.” Al Roker said, “Hope he’s playing with Max and the Wild Things.”

I took a Children’s Literature class in college. One of our assignments was to pick a children’s book, analyze it and read it to the class. I was lucky enough to get Where The Wild Things Are. I noted how as the story builds, the pictures grow bigger in size until the big scene where Max and the Wild Things are howling at the moon, then Max goes home and the pictures start getting smaller again. I said other stuff too but that was over 30 years ago, I don’t remember it all. The important part was, that was the first time I’d ever read out loud in front of a bunch of adults. I’d read to kids before and never had a problem. Reading to grown-ups was scary. So I just imagined them all in pinafores and sailor suites and started. I found out, I’m pretty good at reading children’s books out loud, whether it’s to children or a somewhat older audience. Maybe it’s because I really love children’s books. The whole idea of starting a little person off on the road to a world of Wild Things, Magic lands and fantastic adventures is exciting to me. It was in that class that I decided to write children’s books. I’ve written 8 picture books, 1 Young Adult Contemporary Novel, and I’m working on book 2 in that series, I hope to have a 4 book series when I’m done. Plus I have in my head about 5 more ideas for novels.

Some day my books will be on bookshelves and in libraries, of that I have no doubt. I only hope that when I’m gone, people will say things about me similar to what Rachel Maddow posted about Maurice: “Maurice Sendak has died at 83. More importantly, Maurice Sendak lived.” Farewell Maurice, you will be missed.

Monday – Exercise – 20 minutes; 1 mile

• Breakfast – A bowl of frosted Mini-wheats and 1 cup of oolong tea with honey. (that 1 cup of iced tea before I exercise does seem to help)
• AM Snack – ½ a avocado
• Lunch – loaded salad, including ¼ of the above mentioned avocado
• PM Snack – the last ¼ of that yummy avocado  
• Dinner – small plate of spaghetti with TJs sausage-less sausage.