Come to My Party (Please!)

No one came to my Sweet Sixteen party. In a previous book, Worthy, I write about this pathetic moment in my sad teenaged life, about how that rejection has lingered with me for several decades now. I also wrote about how my friends redeemed my pain; in 2014, they threw a Sweet Sixteen Plus Thirty party for me, complete with 1980s inspired gifts and a big picture of my teen celebrity crush, Alan Alda. (Okay, I was a weird kid.)

My new book, Finding Our Way Forward: When the Children We Love Become Adults, debuts tomorrow, and I’m feeling that familiar fear: that no one will show up to the party I’m throwing on March 3, and that no one will buy my book.

In Finding Our Way Forward, I use my 20-plus years of experience as a college professor and a mom to consider the challenges facing young adults now, and what those of us who serve as parents and mentors can learn from our relationships with the young people in our lives. This is not a parenting how-to—I definitely do not have things completely figured out!—but instead consider ways we can love each other better, learn from each other, and be transformed.

My interactions with young adults have shown me that this generation has a lot to teach us, about justice, humility, empathy, mercy, and love, and I want to invite you along on the journey I’ve taken to know and learn from the young adults in my life.

So, if you’re in the area, please come to my book launch open house! It’s March 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg. There will be cake (the good kind, with good frosting!), charcuterie snacks, sparkling drinks, and books for sale, as well as free bookmarks and stickers. I’m happy to sign books then, too. I’m planning on leaving my Alan Alda poster at home.

You don’t have to buy a book to come—I’d still love to see you, and hand you some cake. You can also purchase the book on Amazon, Goodreads, or Herald Press, or at your local independent bookstore.

If you've already ordered my book and want me to send you a free gift, as well as being considered for a drawing of a Kind Cotton t-shirt, please complete this form so I now how to find you.