Judi Yaeger and me with thousands of our new best friends

What a day it was ....!

Went to the City Hall Plaza in downtown Oakland on Saturday for the march and rally for Women's Day -- exciting just to be with so many of like mind.

On Wednesday of last week books arrived from Hay House NY intended for promotional purposes.  Seeing a real hard copy of a book with my name on the cover and the spine gave me a feeling that was new and novel, and previously unimaginable!  Yet, here it was.  And -- a statement by the renown historian/filmmaker Ken Burns on the book jacket ... unbelievable.

My last day at work was on Friday, with my 4-week leave from duty beginning immediately.  I've now been off for several days, and am already getting antsy to get back to work.  Not certain what to do with myself, though I've had 3 interviews for publications over the past three days, and more such sessions anticipated.

I will be leaving for the Makers Conference in a bit over a week, which includes a visit to Universal Studios for a 3-hour on-camera interview for Hallmark prior to registering for the conference.  Can't imagine what that will be like, but if I'm lucky -- they won't discover their mistake until after I'm back in Richmond!  I'm still not certain that all this attention is deserved, and that someone won't suddenly notice that some monumental error had been made by some unsuspecting new hire -- and the red carpet will be rolled up and stored somewhere obscure -- as the world gets back on its axis and all returns to what new normal we can achieve together in our unwieldy Democracy.

Am anxious to learn what readers think of "Sign my name for freedom", and what the reviews will say about it ... so far I've had two interviewers sitting in my living room who had read the book and whose very comprehensive notes from which they formed their questions were proof that they'd done so -- and who seemed to be positive about my story -- which means my life, after all.

This should be a fascinating few weeks as we lurch awkwardly but clearly forward into time and into a new career as the author of a first book at 96!

Can't wait to see what happens next ... .