"My Aunt Dena Is Famous"
/Max is the eight-year-old son of my best friend, Trisha (the only person in the world allowed to get away with calling me "D" because I know she means the letter "D" and not the abbreviated name "Dee." A subtle yet important difference). Trisha informed me today on the phone that Max is my biggest fan and tells everyone I'm famous.
What happened is that she and Max got online together the other night and looked at my home page and the website for Lessons In Stalking. A few days later he was with his friends and they're just apparently sort of discovering "fame" and what it means to be famous--you're on TV, the radio, people know you, why they want to know about you, etc. So this group of 8 year-old boys is discussing famous people and Max pipes up, "My Aunt Dena is famous. She's got a page on the internet and people read her books."
How cute is that??? "She has a page on the internet." That's the funniest/cutest/sweetest thing I've heard in ages. Note to self: 8-year-olds are easily impressed. But really, I'm so flattered. Adult praise comes and goes but to have a child think you're cool...that ranks up there as among the best things in life. My all time favorite "blurb" I've ever received is from an 11-year-old girl who wrote Cat & Kittens magazine and penned, "I think Dena Harris is really funny." Of all the praise I've received, that's the one I treasure.
Along now, of course, with the praise from my #1 fan - Max. Who needs Oprah's book club or outselling Stephen King? I've got a page on the web!