Part Three: A Long Way From Home
Beth
I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. I have a wonderful life. No, really I do. I’m very lucky. I am pretty healthy, I have a lovely husband and two kids who, if no longer at the adorable stage, still make me laugh on a regular basis, as well as giving me the usual frustrations teenagers do. I have a good career as a picture-book artist, and a family that loves me. Why can’t I be satisfied with my lot? I know my sister, Lou, would never understand, but sometimes I feel as if life is passing me by. Is this all there is? It feels so ungrateful, and yet I can’t stop myself from feeling like this. If my life is so damned brilliant, why do I feel there’s something missing?
August
Beth
It’s a gorgeously hot afternoon in August. I am sitting in my kitchen with the patio doors wide open, to let the little breeze there is in, staring at an email I’ve received this morning from my editor, Karen. I’ve been looking at it for several hours, in between
