family

So we finished off our thanksgiving holiday with a Lin-Mckneally get-together. After all that has happened, I feel as if Luke and Ranida have become kind of part of my family. I have gotten to know Luke's family fairly well and he & Ranida have gotten to know mine so we thought it was time that our families met each other. And I admit I really wanted to go over so I could show off the mural to my parents. I think I am a bit too proud of it...I really must get over it.

But that's hard to do when the families stroke my mural-ego. While there, the Mckneally clan insisted that I get the honor of marking Maia's first height on the growth chart tree. Maia was not that happy about it.


But everyone else was. I particularly was glad that she was in this picture because then officially I am not the shortest one.


So altogether the Lin-Mckneally get-together was quite a success. Hey, and you know what? Kappy, my 4-month year old nephew is pretty cute too. Maybe in 20 years or so Kappy and Maia can get together and then we can really be family.

merry thanksgiving!

Thanks giving was surprisingly balmy at Chez Grace, so with my parents in town, Ki-Ki and I decided to take advantage of the good weather by going for a bike ride. This took some doing, as my dad has not been on a bike for over 40 years and my mom absolutely refused to even mount.

ButI guess riding a bike is like "riding a bike." My Dad certainly proved that, by whizzing on the bike path proudly showing his one-handed technique.

We even made it to Spy Pond, took some father-daughter bonding photos,

and sister-bonding photos.

After which we returned home, where my mom (despite our protests) spent the afternoon slaving away on our traditional Thanksgiving dinner: Chinese rice noodles, stir fried vegetables, tea eggs, and the obligatory roasted turkey. The laboring was really unnecessary as all the food could have been prepared quickly as soon as we returned. Well, all except for the the turkey. She insisted on cooking that with hours of oven time-- "American-Style." She felt to do otherwise would be unpatriotic. Personally, I think the pilgrims wouldn't have minded if she had gone on the bike ride instead.

bundle of cuteness

So, I returned from NYC just in time to welcome the birth of Maia Meiyan McKneally! Yes, the baby that I have helped prepare for has arrived.

I had the distinct honor of being the family's first visitor, arriving at Maia's 22nd hour of life outside the womb.

This is me holding the baby. She is so adorable I entertain thoughts of stealing her away. Which I decide against, considering the parents do know where I live. Notice the firm grasp Ranida keeps on me and the baby, just in case.

Anyway, stealing the baby would make all the rooms I helped prepare a waste. And I can't have that. Because right now I'm thinking it was all worth it.

the best thing about being an author and visiting NYC

the many days of mural, part II

So, despite some doggie help, I have finally finished work on the mural. I can't believe it's done!


The painted Chinese characters is a proverb written by the upcoming baby's grandfather. Roughly translated it says,“In the pureness and innocence of childhood, true joy and happiness.”

This is my favorite part of the mural. The tree will be used as a growth chart, which is why the banner says, "Oh, how you've grown!" Originally it was going to include the baby's name but since that keeps changing, we decided to leave it out.


All in all the mural took about ten days to do. It may have been ten, ten-hour days, mind you. I think I might have lost some weight in the process. I definitely lost sleep as you can tell from my haggard appearance. Haggard, but happy!

the many days of mural

My good friends Luke and Ranida are about to have a baby. So as a baby gift, I offered to paint a mural for their nursery. Of course, I have never painted a mural before but I thought, "Hey, I'm a professional illustrator, right? How hard can it be?" With my confidence in overabundance, I assured them that I could get the wall done in a few days, maybe a week.

So I drew up some sketches and got the okay for this one:



And calmly began painting in the background.


Then the snags began. My oh-so-smart idea of projecting the image onto the wall failed miserably. The room was too shallow for the image to project accurately and I spent the day wrestling with it.



Finally, I just gave up and drew everything freehand. Which was quite time-consuming.


And of course my pencil marks were so messy, I had to outline in paint just to see what I had drawn.


It was quite a relief to actually start painting color. But to get to this stage took about twice the amount of time anticipated.


And at this point, I just hope I get the mural done before the baby gets here!



to be continued...

pumpkins

My friends have been really great in keeping my life full. Most recently, Jon and Loretta brought over some pumpkins to carve which was much fun.


Strangely, Jon decided to carve a Totoro pumpkin while I made mine into a Cylon. Totoro is a character from a sweet Japanese animation. A Cylon is an evil robot in Battlestar Galactica, a somewhat geeky sci-fi show. Somehow it seemed the pumpkins were carved by the wrong people. As Loretta put it, "It's as if we are in some kind of bizarro-land."

But that was until we lit them up. With the lights off and a the pumpkins glowing, we realized Jon's Totoro was quite menacing while my Cylon was rather cute.

you only lose what you cling to

Nine months ago, before Robert's illness became obviously terminal, I had been researching Buddhist quotes for my new novel. Without really considering the meaning, I wrote down the quote "you only lose what you cling to" as an offhand possibility. But as these last few months have progressed that quote seems to repeat in my head, becoming an anchor in an onslaught of emotional storms.

Caring for and watching someone you love die is a revelation. Only in Robert's death did I ever feel the emotions of life so purely and passionately. In that single moment, life and death balanced each other, becoming the same thing wrapped in one.

But that moment passed. Imperceptibly, Robert's death has begun to fade; and as his death diminishes in my life, the urge to cling to it beckons. Because to live in that moment of pure emotion, the moment where black and white become the same color, is to deny death. It allows me to feel that Robert is alive.

But to be in that moment of denying death, one must also deny life. To feel that Robert is alive, my own life must pay the price. And to do that, to squander my life in his name, would be the one thing he would not forgive me for.

So I have been letting go. Letting go of the memories, of the pure emotions, of the desperate times and flashes of beauty. And in this release, the meaning of the quote I wrote down long ago becomes clear to me. Clinging to Robert's death makes me feel as if I could lose his life. Letting it go makes me feel as if I can gain my own.

Robert Salvatore Mercer

Our dearly beloved Robert passed away on Monday, August 27, 2007 at the age of 35. Robert, with his great passion for life, accomplished many dreams. With a Bachelor in Architecture degree from Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Architecture degree in Urban Design from Harvard University, he led a successful career including work with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. He was a remarkable man who battled Ewings Sarcoma Cancer for over five years with strength, spirit, and determination. After being diagnosed, Robert and his wife founded Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure, which to date has raised more than $200,000 for cancer research.

Robert was blessed with wonderful parents, Anna Valente and Edward Mercer, a loving wife and soulmate Grace Lin, his sister Alison (husband Garry Butler), his brothers Tam and Greg, and an adoring grandmother Angela Rossi Valente. Robert will be lovingly remembered by his aunt Vicki and uncle Tony Valente, his cousins Michael (wife Lori Martins) and Lisa, the Lin family, as well as his many relatives and friends. We wish to celebrate Robert’s life; we welcome all those friends and loved ones who want to celebrate with us.

Visitation at:
Centre funéraire Côte-des-Neiges
4525 Côte-des-Neiges road, Montréal
(514) 342-8000
on Thursday, September 6, 2007 from 4 to 9 p.m. and on Friday, September 7, 2007 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. followed by a religious ceremony in the chapel of the funeral home at 10:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, we would ask that you make a donation, in Robert’s name, towards Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund
Attn: Lauren Nash 10 Brookline Place West, 6th Floor, Brookline, MA 02445-7226. Please make checks out to "Robert's Snow."

a real life Ling and Ting

Shortly, after posting about my new project, I received this wonderful e-mail. It reminded me why creating children's books is the best job ever. And it makes me want to paint Ling and Ting in striped sailor dresses.

Dear Ms. Grace Lin,

Our names are Jennifer MeiDe and Rebekah MeiRui. We are ten years old and we are home schooled. We were born in Hefei China, but now we live in the United States. We are identical twins.

We have several books by you. The first book our Mom and Dad bought was Dim Sum For Everyone! The book we liked the most is The Year Of The Dog. Both of us can't wait to get The Year Of The Rat because our Dad and we were all born in that year.

We like your books and know that your new book will be Ling and Ting. This new book is about Chinese American twins, just like us. We look the same, but we have many differences. Jennifer loves to draw paper dolls of people. Rebekah loves to draw animals and draw background scenes.

We each write stories, but we write different kinds of stories. We are taking an online writing course at Northwestern University. Both of us like origami, just like in your other book, Lissy’s Friends , but we each make different kinds of origami figures. When we were babies, Rebekah wore a red ribbon and Jennifer wore a yellow ribbon so that they could tell us apart. Both of us still like those different colors as our favorites today.

We do the same things, but we do them in different ways. If you have any questions about Chinese American twins, please e-mail us.

Becky
and
Jenny

Rebekah(on right) and Jenny (on left)