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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

You are here: Home / books are awesome / Ode to Wegmans and Pat Conroy

Ode to Wegmans and Pat Conroy

August 14, 2009 Filed Under: books are awesome

If you live in Western New York, you spend a lot of time at the mothership. It’s just a fact of life, and probably one of the best parts of living here. On average, we have over 200 cloudy days a year, our winters are long and hard, our summers can get really hot and humid, and if we want to climb stuff we have to take a trip (it is flaaaaat here!). But we have the most awesome grocery store in the history of grocery stores. So there.

When I’m shopping at Wegmans, my favorite activity, of course, is to visit the book section. Many a pint of fro yo has gotten good and melty while I parked my cart and checked out all the covers and imprints, author photos, blurbs, acknowlegements and dedications. And many a grocery bill has been jacked up by the addition of an utterly delicious hardcover.

I came up with the title of my book at Wegmans. I had a very long, rambling title that I loved and apparently everyone else hated (I realize now it was a ridiculous title). On a late night run to Wegs to buy saline solution, I stopped in the book section and noticed that a lot of the titles were one or two words. STAY popped into my head suddenly on the way to the register, and by the time I got out to the car, I’d already sent texts to J and Neil to see what they thought of it.

Yesterday, I went to Wegs to get groceries and picked up the new Pat Conroy book. In high school, I read everything Pat Conroy had written, and read THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE so many times that the cover fell off my beat up paperback copy (several times, because I kept trying to glue it back together). I had lines from the book scrawled on index cards, taped to the wall next to my bed. I had no idea I wanted to be a writer at the time. I did, however, feel very much like a square peg in a round hole, and that book spoke to that feeling so beautifully. That book made me feel a little better about being me and got me thinking about the benefits to not fitting in, which, at sixteen years old (and really, at any age), is an enormous gift.

I was in a hurry yesterday, and didn’t linger long in the book section. I grabbed SOUTH OF BROAD, threw it in my cart and made my way to the registers. There was one person ahead of me in line. I unloaded my groceries, but I held the book so it wouldn’t get ruined by ice cream sweat. It hit me (again) that next year I will be holding my book in my hands, and I lost it (again). Gasping, tears down the cheeks, kind of lost it. I put my head down and wiped my eyes on my sleeve. Luckily, the person in front of me had a slew of coupons that were too crumpled to scan and both she and the checker were too involved to notice. I slid my sunglasses on, checked out, and cried the whole way home.

I was that kid who didn’t feel like she fit anywhere and now I’m an adult who’s carved out my square hole, and I wrote a book, and maybe next year, I’ll be able to walk into Wegmans and buy a copy of my book, hold it while I’m checking out so it doesn’t get ruined by ice cream sweat, and probably make an ass out of myself all over again.

Now, I have to go buy a shirt that isn’t brown or ugly as sin to wear for my author photo shoot next week. Holy crap!

6 Comments

Comments

  1. Courtney says

    August 14, 2009 at 10:56 pm

    What an awesome feeling. Those were happy tears, I hope.

    Maybe next year some other kid who feels like a round peg in a square hole will pick up your book, and years from now he’ll be like, “Yeah, STAY. That book changed my life.”

    Reply
  2. equa yona(Big Bear) says

    August 19, 2009 at 3:33 am

    Really sweet post. Why can’t you wear brown for your author pic?

    Reply
  3. Vanessa says

    August 20, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    The mixture of emotions you are feeling sounds a little overwhelming at times. You are amazing for writing a book and I can’t wait for it to be published. Consider me your one person evangelist once it’s published; it will likely be everyone’s birthday, Christmas and just because gift. Be proud of yourself, you are accomplishing something that for most of us is just a dream.

    Reply
  4. A Free Man says

    August 21, 2009 at 1:17 am

    I LOVED Pat Conroy back in the late 80’s early 90’s. I think it’s time to re-read those books. I really miss the South and Conroy writes about the South with the best of them.

    The movie for Prince of Tides? YUCK.

    Reply
  5. rach says

    August 26, 2009 at 4:35 am

    such a sweet feeling–so happy for you.

    i’m your lame friend who actually cares what you wear in your picture–“cares” as in understands the feeling of needing to care yourself and not being sure what to do with that feeling or how to go about finding the right shirt that makes you feel just like yourself in the picture. good luck!

    Reply
  6. Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks says

    September 1, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    STAY with it, right!?

    Back to Wegmans … we lived near Syracuse for 5 years and I absolutely loved shopping at Wegmans! Wide aisles, well-lit, helpful clerks. Sigh. Our local market now can’t compete … I mentioned Wegmans on Twitter a few months ago, and now they’re following me, how odd is that?!

    Reply

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Glamour shot. #dailyroxydog #huskymix #chihuahuami Glamour shot. #dailyroxydog #huskymix #chihuahuamix #huskychihuahuadachshund #dog
How’s relaxing going, you ask? Well, so far I’ How’s relaxing going, you ask? Well, so far I’ve cleaned the gutters and raced Roxy to the vet ER to determine she did not (thankfully) eat any of the scrap of composite plastic decking she magically found out of freaking nowhere. (Getting pet insurance was the smartest thing I’ve ever done). I’m extremely bad at rest. Although I do find puttering around the house kind of meditative. Cleaning the gutters exhausted my body, but calmed my mind (briefly).
This is our neighbor, Francis. We visit Francis a This is our neighbor, Francis. We visit Francis a couple times a week and we all like to stand around staring at each other. It’s lovely. Francis seems just as interested in us as we are in them. (And look at that stance! And Francis’s little paw resting on the ledge 😍). #groundsquirrel #groundsquirrelsofinstagram #dailyroxydog #dogstagram #neighbors
I don’t think there’s anything more comforting I don’t think there’s anything more comforting than lying in a hammock. I’m exhausted. I’ve pushed against the limits of my being very hard all summer working on my draft and I definitely need to soak up some calm quiet on a large scale. Which is also to say if I owe you a call/email/text, it might take me a week or two to circle back. I’m going to catch up with myself and then with everyone else this time. Which I think might mean spending as much time as I can lying in my hammock listening to birds. #rest
There are few greater joys than a long walk with a There are few greater joys than a long walk with a curious little dog. #dailyroxydog #seenonmywalk #dogsofinstagram
All I ever want is an endless stream of tiny snack All I ever want is an endless stream of tiny snacks to crunch while I’m working. But since I have MCAS and it limits my diet, most of what I eat is food I make myself. Thankfully, corn tortillas are a safe food for me (everyone’s MCAS is different — so please don’t take my safe foods as any kind of sign they’re safe for someone else who has MCAS). Today, I remembered that I  have tiny cookie cutters, so I made myself a bowl of mini chips. I tossed them with lime juice and salt and threw them in the air fryer. And then, of course, because I don’t want to waste food, I did the same for the scrap pieces (which somehow tasted even better!). So happy! #tortillachips
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