senatorkneehi

Even though I've never met you, I think you're a genuinely lovely person. Keep up the good work.

I don't have a question, just a story. For my 13th birthday (as per my only birthday request) my parents drove me in our family's perilously decrepit car several hours through a devastating blizzard to your book signing for Alias Grace in Hannover, NH. Although there were only a few, maybe a dozen, people in that bookstore you were gracious and friendly and gave a wonderful reading before signing copies and chatting amicably with every single person there. You drank water from a coffee mug, an affectation I mimicked for years. I have a strange name and I had to spell it out three times before you signed my hardback copy, one of the only hardback books I owned at the time. Despite my coaching, you spelled my name wrong (understandably) which, oddly, may even be part of the reason that book remains one of my most treasured possessions to this day. That night, my parents and I stayed in a cheap hotel off the highway, which was suddenly and unexpectedly closed on account of the storm. That night, we three fell asleep in a double bed watching Matlock and had beef jerky from the nearby gas station for breakfast. It was the best birthday I have ever had. Thank you.

Congratulations! What a beautiful baby!

A very similar situation happened with some friends of mine in New Orleans and they had a heck of a time getting the kid a birth certificate. Hope you don't run into any problems there.

From what I understood, because there was no licensed medical professional to witness the birth/sign the birth certificate, the hospital gave them a hard time. I don't know the details, sorry.

I'm not as connected and aware as I could be but Aaron's death has made me more so this past year than I have been before. I'm heartened and grateful for all your and your compatriots' work but I still have the same question at the end of every article or podcast or news story. I know it's a simple question with a complex answer but like a little kid scared of shadows I keep wanting to ask, is it all getting better? It doesn't feel like it's getting better.