All This Talk of Love

Last night was inspiring. (And not just because I planned & pulled off a dinner that did not involve frying food in olive oil & dousing it with salt, although I did that, too!)  I was privileged to attend the launch event for Christopher Castellani's new novel, All This Talk of Love.  It was amazing - Porter Square Books was PACKED, Chris' reading swept us right up into his story (and I'll confess, I often zone out when being read to, but not this time) , and the whole evening was a celebration of his hard work and a dream come true... proof of happily ever after.

As I looked across the room from my spot standing on the side of the crowd (I arrived too late to find a seat, but had a great vantage point as I leaned against a shelf of bestselling narrative non-fiction), I thought again about relationships, and how strange life is: the world is set up so that we bump into people across a wide range of circumstance--professionally, in social groups and neighborhoods, online, in classes--and if we handle things well (as clearly Chris has) those relationships form little bonds that tug at us in moments like this, when there is something to celebrate, prompting us to drop what we're doing and go join in the good cheer.

Chris is the Artistic Director of Grub Street, perhaps the premier writing organization on the East Coast.  He's had a hand in encouraging almost every writer in our region, and does so with combination of graciousness and wisdom that make people want to know him more.

And as I think about the title of his new novel, All This Talk of Love, it seems so apt.  We talk about love a great deal, it seems to me. But I'm not sure I'm all that great at showing it.  Last night as Christopher talked about his real-life Italian family, and the fictitious one he has created across his trilogy of books, I was filled with that wonderful sense of being part of something bigger than just me.  I looked out at this crowd of disparate celebrants who might not be gathered in quite this way except for our shared admiration of Chris, it made me want to be better at love - not just the talking, but the doing--the moments that lead to gathering when it's time to celebrate.

Not bad for an evening at a bookstore, huh?  I'm grateful :)