Into the New Year
Edith Cook
Miss Edith
(Dr. Edith Cook)
Two things happened recently that, though anticipated, bring considerable change into my life. One is, the owner of She Writes Press offered to publish my memoir, “Ditching the Mask,” by spring 2026. The other is, on January 31, 2025, my domestic partner and I tied the knot. Both events created happiness, joy, and excitement but left in their wake, certain decisions to be made.
Regarding the second event, we first executed a Prenuptial Agreement drafted by an attorney, and emailed them to the adult children on both sides. My sweetie and I had agreed to respect each other’s separate property, real and personal, but we wanted to assure our adult children that their future inheritances will remain unaffected by our marriage.
Next, we signed reciprocal “Advance Healthcare Directives.” The documents name each other as the agent making healthcare decisions for the assignee, should one or the other of us become unable to make them. It further names various of our adult children as secondary agents. Every one of our children lives in other states and are involved with families and careers; so, it’s reasonable to rely on each other first.
Nevertheless, these are weighty decisions, and we grappled with them off and on. We are in good health, generally speaking, yet we are both past eighty; so, it’s a priority to have the directives in place. Nobody lives forever, and none of us knows how much time we have left on this earth. If we’re lucky, Ron and I will have a few good years ahead of us. Already we have fond memories of the wedding ceremony and the few friends who participated. Including the musician and the photographer, our party consisted of a total of ten—small but lovely. We surpassed the ceremony with a dinner at the Grumpy Italian, Ron’s long-time friend. If you’d like to view some wedding pictures, please go to my website, www.edithcook.com, or to my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/edith.cook.127
As concerns my “Ditching the Mask” manuscript, it had gone through several revisions, thanks to editing proposals. The gist of the memoir is, when we “wear the mask” at length, we turn into inauthentic individuals. My mother is the example I used, although it took me a long time to recognize her as wearing a mask—in childhood and adolescence, her angry outbursts scared and hurt me and my brothers, for Mother’s fits were often accompanied by physical abuse.
Hence, I became an angry woman myself. For years, decades even, I was angry at my parents for taking me out of school at fourteen to “help at home.” Per guild regulations, Father was entitled to “apprentice” me, even though I rarely set foot in his bakehouse; instead, I worked with Mother in our grocery store. To my confusion and amazement, Mother was friendly and congenial with our customers, but once the store closed for the noon hour, and again a five for the evening closure, she turned into the three furies wrapped into one—and I was her target. I failed to recognize that I modeled myself after my mother and, to some degree, my father. Only after I left Germany and settled in California did I begin the process of recognizing—and changing—my attitude.
Working on myself directed my life into altogether unexpected events for the better. The downside is, my two youngest brothers did not live long. Only Karl, two years younger than I, lived long enough to get to know my life in California—he moved there from New York—yet he, too, died young.
As to the contract offered by She Writes Press, since I currently serve on the Board of Wyoming Writers, Inc., I asked the advice of a fellow member who is a published writer. She directed me to another writer with considerable experience in dealing with publishers. I sent Polly the contract by email, and we got together for a Zoom conversation during which I took copious notes. I learned that the contract is a mixed bag. I’ll need to negotiate some built-in author disadvantages. I have until April first to get this settled. My sweetie and I will be away from home between February 7 and the end of February or early March; in the interim, I sent the publisher and her editor a couple of wedding pictures, alerting her that my response will come by mid-March. I have some work to do, putting my objections into requests that won’t be perceived as insulting.
Susie
On Feb 8, 2025, at 7:51 AM, Edith Cook <e104...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Miss Edith
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Carol Bowles
Congratulations on both of these events!!!
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Geri Doherty
C.M. PASCAL
Sent: Saturday, February 8, 2025 8:51 AM
To: edith-cook <edith...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [edith-cook] Into the New Year
S. T. Kotowicz
Edith Cook
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Edith Cook
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Edith Cook
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