The Journey of a Seed to a Litte Grape
It is the year 2000, a time of adjustment for me.
A stay-at-home-mom? Me? Okay, I can do this. But I am quite lonely in my kitchen, during the baby's nap-time, and I don't know what to do with myself unless I am planning an event or filtering through hundreds of phone calls from clients.
I'll defrost something for dinner. I'll send an e-mail to my friends who still work (all of them) so I don't have to bug their assistants. Anything to avoid the laundry.
Okay, it's four o'clock. Baby Alex is in his pack and play, it's not too early to start dinner. I'll make salmon and mash, with a Caesar salad.
Dinner is in the oven. I've already sent out five e-mails and my friends must be busy because they haven't responded - but I did get their automatic "out of the office" replies. What would Alice Hoffman do?
Hello computer! What do I have to share with my word processor? Magic, food, and motherhood. I betchya I can tie these things in together if I sat down to write what I wish I could have told my girlfriends who are busy and still have camaraderie. I love that pudgy little baby boy next to me but I don't think he understands me when I theorize about about sand dollars, dried herbs or tomato soup. And I've already called my husband four too many times at work. Just write - like you did in grade school, in college, in your journal when you were sad or confused. Just write.
I'm Samantha Gianulis and I am a writer from San Diego, California. I started writing essays years ago when I went from professional woman who loved to cook, read and write to a stay-at-home-what-do-I-do-now Mom. I live with my very encouraging husband and our three little monkeys, Alex, Zoe and Melia. In 2005, I considered querying a local family magazine with an article idea, things I had observed being a mother. My husband asked me, well, what do you have to lose? And I got published, who knew? Other people felt like I did, and wanted to laugh and chat about it. So I took all of the essays I wrote while the kids were little, mostly about food and family, put them together, and contacted Nancy Cleary. And here we are.
My book, "Little Grapes on the Vine...Mommy's Musings on Food & Family" will be released April 2007. So far, the publishing process has been exciting, scary, intimidating, and fantastic. And it's only just begun!
