Book launch party on a Wednesday
Yesterday, our whole family was anticipating the arrival of a very special piece of mail.
At the usual time, in accord with her solemn vow of constant front-door vigilance against friend or foe (spoiler alert: they’re all foes), our mini Aussie Scout alerted me to the grave danger of the postman sliding a thin brown package under our doormat. After the coast was clear of all enemies, foreign and domestic, I popped my head out into the unusually warm January day and reached under the mat.
A package with Noah’s name written on it. This was what we had been waiting for!
The first thing Noah said as he clambered into the car after school was, “Did it come?! Is it here?!” His excitement was matched only by mine as I told him that we did indeed get something in the mail with his name on it—flat and rectangular, just the right shape!
After waiting for his brother’s appointment to end (“Aw, but Mom…”) and homework to be done (“I have to finish first?!”) and celebratory brownies to go into the oven (“Come on!”), he tore into the package, gasped, and clutched to his chest…
His first published book!
In the past several years, Noah has logged countless hours at our coloring table drawing stories about his stuffed shark puppet named Sharky and then carefully stapling the printer-paper pages together into books. So for Christmas this year, Grandma and Grandpa gave Noah a create-your-own hardback book kit. He was over the moon.
Over several days, Noah wrote and illustrated his story about Sharky’s hunt for a new house. And let me tell you, it’s a story for the ages. There’s love. There’s conflict. There’s mischief. There’s real estate. All the things you’d expect from a Jane Austen novel—and all in just 14 pages.
We checked and double checked to make sure the pages were in the right order, then mailed those precious pages off in the prepared envelope and started the three-week wait (“Three weeks?! Mom, that’s ages!”) until his book arrived on our doorstep.
After oohing and aaaahing and poring over each page with his siblings, the oven dinged with his favorite fudge brownies inside and Daddy came through the door with the author’s requested dinner: McDonalds Happy Meals. It was time for the much-anticipated book launch party to begin!
After devouring every last french fry, Noah made his author’s remarks and answered questions about the inspiration for the book (Sharky, of course—who, by the way, made a special appearance, traveling all the way from the top bunk in Noah’s room to be with us for the occasion), what it feels like to be a published author, and what his plans are for the future of the book series.
Then, Daddy and big brother Sam did a dramatic reading of “Sharky and His New House” by Noah A. Mellema. It was met with thunderous applause from all Mellemas.
Finally, I shared a blessing for our budding author/illustrator, using portions of A Liturgy for Fiction Writers from Every Moment Holy, asking that God would fill Noah’s imagination, shape him as he creates, and take his offerings of creativity and multiply them that others might know God’s love.
I’m telling you, Noah could have floated away on the lightest breeze he was so filled with joy. I know you never can predict what your kids will remember, but I just get the feeling that this will be a memory we’ll hold onto years into the future.
In these family moments where my heart is spilling over with delight, Matt and I will often look at each other and laugh at the goodness of it all. I find myself reaching for God like that in these golden days of parenting, locking eyes with him and basking in the warmth of his delight in my children as his own creation, and in us together as his people enjoying his kind gifts and cultivating what is good and lasting in his kingdom.
I wonder if memories like this are something we’ll talk about from time to time once God has made all things new. Will our God, who remembers and holds all our moments and transforms them into something lasting, say as we’re reminiscing, “Do you remember Noah’s book launch party? It was so much fun, and he was so proud and felt so loved. I loved filling you with my joy and shaping each of you by my love in that moment.”
Life in this world often feels impossibly far from the New Creation, and you don’t have to look far to find reason for discouragement. So in our family’s life together in the safety and warmth of our home, I am determined to take every opportunity to honor who God has made them to be and celebrate the role he has given them—not someday, but right now, today, as a child!—in God’s story of redemption. Day by day, I want to join the Spirit in opening their hearts and minds to imagine what it might mean for them to live their whole lives loving God and welcoming his kingdom here on earth.
And sometimes, on the most shimmering, delightful days, that looks like a book launch party on an ordinary Wednesday.