First I want you to know that Richard is not a book reader. He devours short magazine articles but rarely a full length book. Our coffee table is loaded with magazines. Full length books however are not his style but once I got the printed version, he wanted to know what was inside.

A Bittersweet Goodnight focuses on my relationship with my stepmother of over 50 years, June. Although I’ve been married to Richard for 33 years, his role in the book is minor. He is my rock but I needed to emphasize the loneliness I felt while trying to care for June in her final years. I’m really not sure what his reaction to the family stories and ensuing drama would be.

Yesterday I was in the other room and I can hear Richard start to laugh. And laugh and laugh. He couldn’t wait to tell me what he found so funny. It was the toe. June had a hammer toe, one toe curled over top of another. We all knew about it and she refused to do anything for it. Without giving the story away, I did include several funny stories about the toe. It may have a bigger role as a character than some other living and breathing human beings that knew June.

So far Richard is really enjoying the book at 100 pages in. He has first hand knowledge of many things in the memoir and he still finds it interesting and as he tells me, well written. I am however, anxiously waiting for more laughter from him and maybe even a tear or two. My dream is to write a book that taps into all kinds of human emotion. That is the kind of book I love to read and even though Richard is biased toward the author, I hope you can gauge your enjoyment of A Bittersweet Goodnight by his reactions.