A couple of months ago, my wonderful girlfriend Talia and I decided to fully move in together. Practically speaking, it was but a minor adjustment – we had long been straddling our two homes, spending only the occasional night apart. But when the “Safer at home” order came down, we were already there, sheltering cozily in place. Romantically speaking, that makes all the difference. Ours was not a shotgun cohabitation.

I made one other life-changing decision before Orange Idiot Disease exploded on the world scene: time to get serious about the book I’m writing. It’s a work of non-fiction, one that’s been percolating in my noggin for several years. The subject is trauma traveling down the branches of a family, morphing and evolving as it plays out from one generation to the next. Trauma, and the possibility of healing. It is the story I need to tell at this moment in my life. I’ve written songs about it. I’m co-authoring a musical about it. I recently wrote an article steeped in this theme, too, a loving profile of composer Richard Rodgers from a grandson’s perspective, that ran in The Dramatist. Now, finally, it’s time for the book.

This blog is part of the writing process, too, another way of exploring the subject of trauma and healing, trauma and it gets better. For updates about the book and my various other projects, please check out my newsletter. Sign up for it here on my website, and I will send you a copy of the article on my grandfather as a thank you for making the effort.

Oh, one more thing to report… A few days ago, I got down on one knee and asked Talia to marry me. She said yes, by which I mean… SHE SAID YES!!!!! There’s so much more to tell, but that’ll have to wait for another day.

Stay healthy, safe and sane… Peter