Counting by 7s (36 page)

W
e are in
the taxi, driving back, when Pattie reveals something big.

She wants to buy the building.

The Gardens of Glenwood.

We all think that she's kidding, but apparently she has already spoken to someone at the bank and she's put in a formal offer.

I don't know what to make of it, but Dell looks thrilled.

I'm thinking that he's thinking that he won't get evicted if she owns the place.

But I doubt he'd still be the building rep.

Quang-ha is the most energized by this news. I guess he still worries about going back to the garage behind the salon.

He says that if his mom owns the place, we should make a skateboard ramp in the front entrance where the stairs are.

I didn't know he was a skateboarder.

Interesting.

Pattie says that nothing is for certain.

That is the truest statement I've ever heard.

In the late afternoon, after everything has settled down, I put away my garden clothes and I run the mile loop.

I then take a seat next to the timber bamboo in the courtyard.

I know that I will think about this day many times.

Then I realize that it is the 7th of the month. And I'm not surprised.

7 is a natural number.

And it is a prime number.

There are 7 basic types of catastrophes.

And 7 days of the week.

Isaac Newton identified the 7 colors of the rainbow as:

Violet

Indigo

Blue

Green

Yellow

Orange

Red

Dell put people in 7 categories:

Misfit

Oddball

Lone Wolf

Weirdo

Genius

Dictator

Mutant

I have my own system of order.

I think that at every stage of living, there are 7 people who matter in your world.

They are people who are inside you.

They are people you rely on.

They are people who daily change your life.

For me I count:

1. My mom (always)
   
2. and my dad (forever)
   
3. Mai
   
4. Dell
   
5. Quang-ha
   
6. Pattie
   
7. Jairo
   

I decide that when my head begins to pound from now on, I will shut my eyes and count
to
7, instead of
by
7s.

I see each one of these people like the colors of the rainbow.

They are vivid and distinct.

And they hold a permanent place in my heart.

If the builder had had more money, this area would have probably been a swimming pool.

But it's not.

It's a garden.

I shift my position and suddenly I feel something in my pocket.

It's my lucky acorn.

I get up and pick a spot off to the side where I know there might be space for something of size to grow. I punch my finger into the dirt to make a small hole, and I drop in the brown nut.

I return to the stairs, and as I sit here in a slice of winter sunlight, two small birds find their way down to the honeysuckle planted next to the bamboo.

They speak to me, not in words, but in action.

They tell me that life goes on.

 

 

Acknowledgments

I
would like
to thank Jennifer Bailey Hunt and Lauri Hornik, who were my editors. They made this book. I tried to quit on multiple occasions. They wouldn't let me.  I express my complete gratitude to both of you. 

I had two agents in writing this book. Ken Wright and Amy Berkower. Everyone in the world should have the kind of support these two people give to writers. 

I had many great teachers, but 7 who absolutely changed my life. Sharon Wetterling (Condon Elementary School, Eugene, Oregon), Harriet Wilson (South Eugene High School), Arnie Laferty (Roosevelt Middle School, Eugene, Oregon) Ray Scofield (Roosevelt Middle School), Wayne Thompson (Roosevelt Middle School), Dorothy Iz (Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey), and Addie Holsing (Willard Middle School, Berkeley, California). Thank you for giving so much of yourself to kids.

I have many writers who are my friends. More than 7. The writing pals (besides my husband) who personally inspire me daily are Evgenia Citkowitz. Maria Semple. Aaron Hartzler. Lucy Gray. Mart Crowley. Gayle Forman. Charlie Hauck. Henry Murray. Allan Burns. Nadine Schiff. Elaine Pope. Henry Louis Gates. Diane English. Nancy Meyers. Bill Rosen. Stephen Godchaux. Ry Cooder. David Thomson. Amy Holden Jones. And John Corey Whaley.

My mother, Robin Montgomery, is there for me in everything I attempt to do. And I thank her for all of her insight, wisdom, and humor. I was fortunate to have 7 other moms growing up, and so to my mother thank-you list I add Bertie Weiss, Ann Kleinsasser, Risha Meledandri, Jane Moshofsky, Donna Addison, Mary Rozaire, and Connie Herlihy. 

I need to thank Thu Le and Minh Nguyen for helping me with the Vietnamese language.

And finally the 7 people who are present every day in so many ways. Farley Ziegler. Tim Goldberg. Randy Goldberg. Anne Herlihy. Max Sloan. Calvin Sloan.

And Gary Rosen. 

Love you (7 letters).