It is over
The book launch was yesterday. Finally. It had seemed such a long time in coming and now it is over. The weather was perfect, with the sun streaming onto the deck for those outside. Today there is heavy rain. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
What makes a day like this even more special was the presence of family, with two sons, two daughters-in-law and three grand-children to share the occasion. Stephen and I arrived early to begin preparations, although we had already moved furniture into place the day before. But there were wine glasses to wash, more food to prepare, a book table to set up, and plenty of other little things to organise. It wasn’t long before we were joined by Genevieve and Willow, followed by Levi and Rosie and their two children. I’d already created a seafood chowder and we all sat down for an early lunch. At 12 we started on the platters, buttered the crackers and topped these with fresh avocados from Levi’s orchard.
Soon after, Chiara and her friend Ashleigh arrived. Chiara, who is from Italy, had offered to perform a Cacao ceremony to open the book launch, while Ashleigh had come to support her. Both these girls are friends of Genevieve and Michael, my son whose house we had the launch in. Ashleigh helped with bits and pieces while Chiara began preparing her drink.
I was sent for a small rest before the people came. I am still not good on my feet, finding I have to lie down if I have been standing for any length of time. I went through the speech one more time in my head, thankful to have some time to myself.
It wasn’t long before the first person arrived, quickly followed by more. I had already received several texts from friends unable to make it for one reason or another and a beautiful bunch of flowers from friends in New Plymouth, unable to share the day with me. Rosie had brought me a lovely pink-flowering camellia and I put the two together, brightening up the gloomy fireplace.
I had posted on Facebook about the Cacao ceremony but still offered people wine when they arrived. Everyone chose to wait until they had the Cacao.
At 2pm Chiara carried her steaming pot of chocolate mixture into the centre of the room and everyone took their seats. Two of the grand-children and later another woman and I helped take these cups to everyone. While this was taking place, one of my all-time favourite pieces of music played – Soon, from the album Relayer, by Yes, which came out in the 1970’s. I could feel the music reaching directly into my heart. The lyrics were so fitting for my book, soon oh soon, our reason to be here. Following this, Chirara explained the purpose of the ceremony, played her flute, then handed the floor over to me.
By now, everyone had sampled their cacao mix and had drifted into a beautiful state of peacefulness. It seemed like a minute or two and the talking was over, but I had timed my speech and I knew I would have been speaking for 19 minutes. Afterwards, I was surprised when the three other members of my writing group who were present, paid a small tribute to me, and gave a lovely plant as a gift. There were only a couple of questions.
The gladwrap was pulled off the food, beverages poured and everyone started mingling. I was delighted to see some of my long-time friends, a couple from my Hokianga days whom I’d first met 30 years ago, and another from Whangarei, I met 22 years ago. Plus, I met some new and interesting people, and some who had attended the last book launch but whom I had not seen since. There were about 45 people in all. I was asked to sign quite a number of books. Then the day was over.
I had put so much energy into this, practising my speech each day, inviting friends, planning the refreshments, buying the food. Then it was all over. I have received so much feedback and it has all been positive. I feel blessed that Chiara offered to create the perfect space with her Cacao ceremony. It really took the book launch to a special place that would not have been achieved without the ceremony. In The Collective Us I talk about ceremonies as it seems these are practised regularly on the other side and with people like Chiara around, I am sure they will be practised more regularly on this side now too.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this day special.