Today is a pretty big day in the Tassava family: Shannon signed a contract for the book she’s written about modern stay-at-home motherhood. Some of the details are still being ironed out, but the arrangements are firm enough that we can look forward to seeing the book in print sometime in the next year or so.
This accomplishment of Shannon’s is the culmination of years of very hard work, and I think I’ve only been more proud of my wife three other times in our 16-plus years together: when she gave me my daughters and when she finished her PhD. And that’s not to say that Shannon hasn’t done a lot of other amazing stuff – only that this book contract is up there with the very biggest deals.
If nothing else, I think that realizing this goal has required more work over a longer time than anything else Shannon’s ever done. I’ve known that she wanted to be a “writer” for as long as I’ve known her; I remember her telling me when we were first going out that she wanted to write for a living. Unlike the many liberal-arts grads who say that but don’t act on it, Shannon did.
True, her dream was mostly dormant during the years of going to grad school and starting a career, but it reemerged when Shannon began her second career as a stay-at-home mother, during which she discovered that she had something unique to say about the trials and rewards of that job. She started blogging, published essays in a couple of edited anthologies, worked incessantly on her own book, and strived to find a way to get the book published.
This last task was – is – the hardest one. Shannon ran into roughly one million dead ends (the modern publishing industry is a horrible place), but she never gave up, and finally it’s paid off: her book is going to be published! Julia and Genevieve couldn’t be happier for her, in their kid-enthusiastic way. Little do they know that they’re absorbing many important lessons from their mother’s perseverance and tirelessness.
For my part, I couldn’t be more proud. Congratulations, babe! When can we pop that bottle of Champagne?
Christopher, you are such an AWESOME husband! Shannon definitely deserves the praise, but you write so articulately and lovingly about her achievements and have supported her in a way that some men never learn how to do for their wives. Fortunately for me, my husband is also unconditionally supportive of the many and varied hats I have worn during our life together! We two sisters are two very lucky wives!!!
Love ya, bro! –Heidi
1.) Yes we are, Heidi, and 2.) C., um, is 6 a.m. too early for champagne?
Great news! Congratulations to Shannon!