#1 New York Times bestselling author! Emily Giffin, THE SUMMER PACT
[0:02]Hi, I'm Sivi Owens and I am the host of this podcast, Momstone Have Time to Read Books.
[0:08]I am also a newly minted USA Today best-selling author of the novel, Blake.
[0:14]I've created a whole community of book lovers around this podcast, a publishing company,
[0:19]reading retreats, a bookstore, and more. Learn more at ZiviMedia.com or follow me on social
[0:25]at Zivi Owens or join the community at ZiviReaders.
[0:31]Emily Giffin is the author of the summer packed. Emily is the author also of 11 internationally
[0:38]best-selling novels, including something borrowed, something blue all we ever wanted,
[0:42]and meant to be, which she was on this podcast discussing already. Emily lives in Atlanta with her
[0:48]family and two dogs. Welcome, Emily. Thank you so much for coming back on Momstone Have Time to
[0:52]Read Books and discuss the summer packed. Congratulations. Thank you, Zivi. It's a good talk with you.
[0:58]I can't think it's been two years since you did by Q&A for the launch of meant to be.
[1:03]Oh my gosh. Blue by. Blue by. Like two seconds. Oh my gosh. I don't even know what happened.
[1:10]This is, anyway, yes, but thank you so much for inviting me to do that event with you in
[1:15]downtown. That was so fun. Well, that was cool. Yeah. I haven't even been back to that place
[1:18]now that I think about it. I can't remember what it was called, but it was really fun.
[1:22]Anyway, the summer packed. Please tell listeners what this book is about, which, by the way,
[1:27]I really enjoyed and had a lot of really important heavier themes packaged in a very
[1:34]sweet uplifting cover and message. And you know, but really important heavier themes hidden with
[1:41]not even hidden. There were some. There were some. That's a better way. So the book is about
[1:48]four friends who meet in college and they're just best friends. They click in that way that
[1:53]so happens when we, you know, go off to school or, you know, a coming of age friendships and a
[2:00]tragedy strikes their senior year in college and they make this packed that they will always
[2:06]come together and be there for they will always be there for one another and they will always
[2:09]come together. If, you know, anything terrible or to ever happen again, are they any of them
[2:15]were to hit rock bottom? They make this like, you know, packed to their friendship. And about 10 years
[2:21]later after graduation, something happens and they get in touch with one another and they make
[2:26]good on this promise. So the book is about their journey. They go to Italy as the cover suggests
[2:32]they got a capri and they also go to Dallas, Texas and Paris. But the majority of the book takes
[2:38]place in Italy and it's about, you know, this trip they take, but also about their inner journey.
[2:44]And they all, they all discover that they're sort of out of crossroads at life. Some of them
[2:49]didn't know at the start of the book that they had something to deal with. But by the end,
[2:53]by the middle, they did, they, they realized this and it's sort of about how friendship,
[2:57]the healing power of friendship and how important that is in our lives. But yeah, so I'm glad you
[3:03]enjoyed it. Oh my gosh, there's a passage at the end. Do you mind if I read this little section?
[3:07]No, no, go for it. Where you say sometimes it almost seems too good to be true, which scares me.
[3:12]The stakes feel so high and I can't bear the thought of a breakup causing any sort of rift in the
[3:16]bedrock of our friendship. But I have come to learn that we can't live our lives in a small,
[3:21]fear-based way. We have to take risks. We have to love big and we have to have faith in our
[3:26]relationships. They've gotten us this far. And then you close, I say, I laugh hoping that someone
[3:32]captures the perfect shot. Then again, I know that's not what matters. Our lives will never be
[3:36]perfect. Nor will the photos we take. What matters is that we are all doing our best. We're
[3:41]showing up for one another. Even when things get rough and against all odds, we are finding our way
[3:46]to happiness. Oh, it's so good. I mean, it's good. It's just like, well, thank you. It's like
[3:52]you close and you're like, you know, I've put my hand over my heart. That's what I'm doing on
[3:57]this podcast video. I like, and this is, I don't think this is a spoiler, but I do like satisfying
[4:01]endings. They don't always have to be completely tied up in the knee bow and perfect. But I like
[4:07]the sense of, you know, finding my characters in a place of satisfying closure, even if it's not
[4:14]perfect as that passage suggests. So yeah, well, I'm glad you liked it. Okay. Well, tell me a
[4:22]little bit more about the narcissistic mother character. You know, I have somewhere along the way
[4:27]of the last few years, narcissism showed up in my algorithm. And, you know, I can't remember,
[4:35]the phone listens to you, but I don't have a narcissist, like a full-blown narcissist in my life,
[4:41]I wouldn't say, but I have friends with parents who are or siblings who are or husbands
[4:47]who became ex-husband who are. And so I really do think that phone listened and it somehow got
[4:54]on my thread. And I started to post these videos because I post a lot on my stories. I just posted
[5:01]these videos and then I heard from people that narcissist in life. And I thought, you know, it's
[5:06]an ensemble cast. So I'll have one of these. And one of the things that these young people,
[5:11]although they're not that young, they're 32, they're young to me. But they're dealing with their sort
[5:16]of these familial expectations that we, I think many of us experience along the way in our lives.
[5:23]I mean, certainly, and when we're younger, but I don't think we ever fully escape them.
[5:29]You know, I think some of us, if the more mentally, you know, healthy we are and those relationships
[5:35]are healthy, we can sort of live our own lives with the support of our parents. But I think it
[5:41]haunts a lot of us in various ways. And so I thought it would be interesting given how many people
[5:48]have this, this thread in their lives to have one of them with a narcissistic mother, which I think
[5:54]from my observations is the most painful, the most, it's the most painful for some reason when
[6:03]at least in my, you know, limited her view when your mother is a narcissist. Because I think
[6:09]although maybe equally painful for your father to be one, there's this societal expectation that
[6:15]your mother is going to be nurturing and maternal and loving and there for you. And when that
[6:19]doesn't happen, I think it's compound, the disappointment is compounded. So Hannah in the book,
[6:23]she's from Atlanta where I live where I've lived for 20, almost 21 years,
[6:27]she grew up in Buckhead where I lived for 20 years. I've moved a little, it's up to a couple
[6:32]two miles away into Midtown Atlanta now, but she grew up in Buckhead and she has this mother who
[6:37]very much wants her life to be perfect. And part of that perfection comes in the form of, or a lot
[6:43]of that perfection comes in the form of romantic partner because Hannah's mother is one of those that
[6:48]thinks you have to sort of marry right and have children who are sort of perfect and they're
[6:53]your little props and life and you have to have the right social circle. And so when something
[6:58]goes wrong, which is sort of the incident that kicks off the modern day portion of this book,
[7:04]Hannah's mother is an unto the world with Hannah's reaction to it. It's not even what happened to
[7:11]her daughter, but how Hannah chooses to deal with this aftermath. And I think it's something that
[7:17]a lot of people were going to be able to relate to. And if they can't relate to it in terms of their
[7:21]own parents, they certainly have a close friend who's been impacted by someone like Hannah's mother.
[7:27]So that was interesting to write about. And I think very true life. I also think sometimes the
[7:33]reactions that you get from people like your parents or close friends or whatever, when something
[7:38]goes wrong in your own relationship, the reactions often have nothing to do with you. It's so much
[7:43]about them, right? I think that's very true. Yes, I think, you know, I think that if you're
[7:50]completely, you know, well, and none of us are completely, well, adjust or completely, mentally
[7:55]healthier, no issues to work through. But I think the more you are that, the more you can let go of
[8:00]trying to control other people. And their reactions to what you're doing and to their lives.
[8:05]So yeah, I think that was something that Hannah had to deal with in this book and her journey.
[8:11]It was a definite theme for her. So, but even Tyson, he's one of the friends, the only, the only
[8:18]male in this group, but he had much healthier relationships with his parents, but they still
[8:26]he still face, you know, pressure from them in the form of wanting him to, you know, sort of
[8:33]be successful as a lawyer. And that wasn't because of shallow reasons. They just thought you've worked
[8:39]so hard. You deserve to have this kind of life. And I could relate more to that. I remember when I
[8:46]told my mother was a librarian at the time, she retired now. But when I told her I was leaving
[8:51]my job as a lawyer to go write something borrowed in London, she was very supportive. And my
[8:58]father, although he's very supportive, he's risk averse. And he was not so thrilled with
[9:02]minus his comfortable job. And, you know, I worried about that. I worried, what if I move, I
[9:08]write this book. I'd already have been rejected on another manuscript that it had taken me five
[9:12]years to write while I practiced law. And I thought, you know, if this happens again, if I
[9:16]rejected again, you know, I don't want to let him down. I don't want to worry him. So, you know,
[9:21]there's there's the weight of those expectations. So Tyson Tyson had to deal with that. And then
[9:25]Laney's just a complete loose cannon. And she had a whole other set of things that she had to
[9:30]struggle with. But, you know, and she lost her mother and did not have a close relationship with
[9:35]her father. So, I mean, the book is very much about our found family. You know, we have our family
[9:41]that we're born with. And some of us have great relationships and make that work. And some of
[9:45]us, you know, go no, no contact. And some lose every, you know, you lose everyone. And like,
[9:50]you're an only child and both parents die. I mean, so there's all, it's a whole mixed bag. But
[9:54]and I think it kind of happens and your starts in your 20s and builds upon that that you have
[9:58]your found family.
[10:00]in your support system that you've chosen and that have chosen you and those come in the form of
[10:07]our, you know, very best friends. And you're lucky if that aligns and one of your siblings is that
[10:12]I have that with my sister Sarah, but my best friend from college Nancy is like another sister
[10:18]to me. And she's, I mean, I'm quite literally founder across the hall at Wake Forest University.
[10:23]So when we've stuck together ever since, it was special sharing this book with Nancy because
[10:29]of course, we're college best friends. And I'm writing about college best friends. So we,
[10:33]we did quite a lot of reminiscing as I sent her chapters along the way because she's always a
[10:37]first reader too. And for every book. So that was kind of neat. Do you have like best friends from
[10:45]college or you more of a high school best friend girl? I do. Although I have to say my, my best friend
[10:51]from college who lived across the hall for me, started again freshman year and then I lived with her
[10:55]the rest of school and after college, she ended up dying on 911. She worked in the north tower.
[11:00]So I mean, I'm sure you're just about that. That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. But I have lots
[11:07]of other good friends from college who I adore and who I'm in close touch with and just saw one
[11:11]recently and and good friends from high school. I don't know. You know, there's nothing like
[11:16]someone who's known you for so long and who knows you so well. And what you write in the book too
[11:20]is about this time of life. Like what is it about, especially this coming of age friendships? I mean,
[11:25]that's how you start the whole book, right? It's like when you're forming your own selfhood,
[11:30]right? It does very critical ages. The people who you glom onto and I guess back in the day we
[11:35]get married at that young age. But now, of course, we don't. So it's almost like they become
[11:40]these sort of like interim spouses in a way, right? You share so much. And like your identities
[11:46]kind of fuse for a while until you then usually end up separating and pairing off in other ways.
[11:52]I don't know. There's something very formative about that step of development. Absolutely.
[11:57]You know, growing up, my favorite, you know, it's your favorite movie in your favorite book. So
[12:02]often is like about what's going on in your life when you read it. Yes. Or when you see the film,
[12:08]like if I, if I, anyway, favorite movie for me is Stand By Me. Of course, it's based on a
[12:13]film Stephen King, which was called The Body, which I loved as well. But this movie I saw,
[12:19]I just moved to Chicago. And I missed my friends from Philadelphia so much. And
[12:24]there was a showing at the dollar theater. It wasn't a new release. Obviously, if it was the
[12:28]dollar theater, but I watched it maybe upwards of 10 times alone in the theater. And then
[12:34]I got my brother word processor. I got it on. I got the tape, the beta or the, you know,
[12:40]the VHS tape. And I would pause it up to every line, write it down by hand and then went back
[12:45]and typed it all up on my brother word processor head script to Stand By Me. The movie, which
[12:49]felt, you know, four boys, 12 year olds looking for this dead body in the woods. And so,
[12:54]I mean, nothing that I should be able to relate to. It's like four boys and this adventure in the
[12:59]woods. And it said in Oregon. But of course, I did. It resonated with me so much. And that
[13:04]movie has just always stayed with me. But one of the lines, and it was, you know, it's Richard
[13:08]Dreyfuss at the end. And he's typing on his computer reflecting back. And he says,
[13:11]you never had friends later on. Like the ones you had when you were 12, Jesus does anyone.
[13:16]And that was that I actually quote from that line. I quote like, I had my characters in my book
[13:22]are watching that movie after the tragedy happens and reflecting on that quote. So yeah, that was,
[13:27]it's for the characters in Stand By Me. It was age 12. And for my characters, it happened,
[13:33]you know, a bit later. But it's that, that's that time when you sort of lose your innocence.
[13:39]And you are something happens to really like permanently change you. And, you know, just sort of
[13:45]repel you into this reality that you weren't able, you didn't have to face before. And that's kind
[13:54]of, you know, what the summer practice about. But it's also, you know, I tried to write a lot about,
[13:58]you know, there's a lot of humor scenes in it. And I, you know, tried to have like,
[14:03]you know, light moments as well. Because as you know, when you're going through something,
[14:07]you know, laughter sometimes, you know, such a cliche, but really is the best medicine. And
[14:12]I think that's really what helps bring Hannah out of it to have, yeah, Haney, Lainie's
[14:17]humor, especially, she was just sort of the comic relief and all of this. And I think it's nice
[14:23]for a friend group to have a Lainie to who sort of, you know, brings levity and perspective.
[14:29]Well, she also brought quite a bit of drama.
[14:32]And we did, she in her own way, but some of that sometimes those people are, you know,
[14:38]bring the highs and lows. Yes. Lorehanna was just so steady in part because her mother,
[14:44]you know, she had been reacting to this narcissist for so long that you have to sort of be steady,
[14:47]or you're going to rock the boat. So yeah. And then the mix of personalities, I think is so
[14:52]fun to write about because you are one person sometimes with one friend and you're another way
[14:58]with another friend. And then other people are just very consistent with who they are,
[15:02]yes, you know, throughout. And so there was a little bit of that analysis in the book as well.
[15:07]But I just love relationships. I mean, I love all aspects of our friendships and the layers that
[15:14]come with, you know, romantic relationships and friendships and parents and children and siblings
[15:21]and all. And just every facet of relationships, I think is just so fun to explore. And
[15:27]way for people to meet these characters because you know, you write them. I've been with them for
[15:33]two years and only a handful of people know who they are, which is, and I just, there's something
[15:38]about people, a lot of people think of updates, some others think of updates in terms of, you know,
[15:43]this nerve-wracking, you got to go out and go on a book tour and what are your sales looks like.
[15:48]And I think I have had that approach in the past, some of the books that I've released,
[15:52]but for this one, it's very much like, meet my people, ah, meet my people. So I really can't
[15:59]wait to hear from people about that. So was it that was it the characters that came to you first
[16:04]or the plot? How did you like, where did the y'all come from? The concept of a coming of age
[16:10]friendship rooted in high school or college. And I started out thinking I was going to do high
[16:16]school, but then I moved to college because one of the things that I think is interesting about
[16:20]that is you all come from different places. So, you know, when you're in high school friends,
[16:25]you're sort of all, I mean, you can be a diverse group, but you share a lot of, I mean, you're
[16:31]all at the same school and you're, you know, usually I mean, it's more diversity in some schools
[16:36]than others, but college, it's much more built in. So I wanted to do that. And I wanted to touch on
[16:42]this theme of like, of college athletes and the pressure that they're under and, you know,
[16:47]I have two sons, twin sons who run track in cross country at Columbia, which was quite a
[16:53]time to be at Columbia this past year, this past semester. Like we could do a whole podcast.
[16:59]But, you know, I think that young people in general, people at all ages, but they put so much
[17:05]pressure on themselves to be, to be perfect, to be successful, to collect achievements and climb
[17:14]the ladder of success. And it's so damaging to our mental health to view life that way. And,
[17:21]you know, I had a moment with my daughter, so I have three children. My sons are very, you know,
[17:27]high achieving. They, you know, obviously at Columbia, they're running at a high level. They're
[17:32]very academic. They just sort of always have been. And my daughter is less academic. She's
[17:37]dyslexic. She's a more of a leader in school. She's in student government. She's had conferences
[17:43]where teachers have said to me, she's my favorite. It's one of my favorite students I've ever taught.
[17:47]Now, my boys got a lot of praise along the way at teacher conferences. A lot of, you know,
[17:53]you know, they're incredible students, but I don't remember anyone ever saying, they're my favorite
[17:57]kid I ever taught. So, you know, it's, she's her own person, but she went through a period of
[18:02]comparing herself to her brothers and feeling, I think, just inadequate. And I had to sit her down,
[18:07]and really have this like hard to heart and just remind her, like, you know, we aren't the
[18:13]sum of our accomplishments. We aren't, you know, you don't take a person and then, you know,
[18:18]you add up everything they've done, how much money they've made, you know, how many weeks were they
[18:23]on the bestseller list or did their book not even ever get published or, you know, how many albums
[18:28]did they sell or did their marriage last or did they get it divorced? I mean, all these different
[18:36]metrics of success, that's not who you are. I mean, it's a part of your life and it's important
[18:42]to chase your dreams, but you are the sum of your relationships. You are, you know,
[18:48]Harriet is the girl who she's always cold and always wears like four sweatshirts, but if she
[18:53]goes to soccer practice and someone else is cold, she'll give the sweatshirt to them, you know,
[18:57]she's also the one that she's in, as I said, student government, but she's the one that
[19:02]it'd be like, this is the way it's going to be like laid down the law. She doesn't care people
[19:05]like her, but she wants the performance to be right. So she's got these wonderful skills and
[19:10]and none of them have to do with her GPA, which is, which is, she's doing, she was doing much
[19:15]better now. This was the eighth grade when we talked about this and she's, you know, doing much
[19:18]better right now. But these characters in my book and in other books that I've written in the past
[19:24]have to sort of, it's a theme that I feel compelled to explore because I think it's so important
[19:32]to especially with the layer of social media and what you're presenting to the world and how
[19:36]you feel about your marriage compared to someone else's marriage and to your children compared
[19:42]to someone else's children and these children are going to this college and these, you know,
[19:46]my child is, you know, been rejected, but all of that, it's not who we are. I mean, and it's
[19:52]speaking of algorithms, they must hear me saying thank my phone must be all right now because
[19:57]this Steve Jobs book keeps coming around to me.
[20:00]where he says, you know, we talks about,
[20:03]does matter how expensive your car is or this and that.
[20:06]And I haven't read his autobiography,
[20:08]but my understanding is that he sort of on his deathbed
[20:12]had this, you know, he sort of talked about,
[20:15]obviously one of the most successful entrepreneurs
[20:18]in the world, but he had a troubled relationship
[20:19]with his daughter.
[20:20]And in the end, that's what he focused on.
[20:24]And that's what he felt was missing in his life.
[20:25]And I think that if he could go back,
[20:28]he would have probably done things differently.
[20:30]So another kind of idea of kind of went on up on a tangent,
[20:32]but it's so important to the character summer.
[20:36]So summer's actually a person,
[20:38]the summer packed book takes place in the summer,
[20:41]but that's her name.
[20:42]But it was, it was very an important aspect
[20:44]to her college experience,
[20:46]this like quest for absolute perfection
[20:49]and for the highest level of achievement,
[20:52]which isn't what makes us who we are
[20:54]and it's not what makes us loveable
[20:56]and worthy of love at all.
[20:59]So I don't write with messages in mind,
[21:02]but it's one that I think is in this book
[21:06]and I hope people, particularly young people,
[21:09]take away when they read it.
[21:11]Yes, a hundred percent.
[21:13]I have like a thousand thoughts to everything you would say.
[21:16]And I was saying some of these things,
[21:18]there's some parallels in my life and your life
[21:20]where I'm thinking we could do a whole nother sit down.
[21:23]Yes, but yes, yeah.
[21:25]So, but I love hearing about your daughter too
[21:28]because I think it's easier from us at this age.
[21:32]Like we see what happens when just like after the school
[21:36]process, but when you're in it,
[21:37]it feels like it will never, ever end.
[21:40]And of like even just saying like,
[21:42]you just have to get through school,
[21:43]which sometimes, you know, to one of my kids
[21:44]and like you're gonna be fine.
[21:46]You just have to like get through school
[21:47]and then like it doesn't even matter anymore, right?
[21:50]It just doesn't even matter.
[21:52]It's who you are as a person.
[21:53]So, right, right.
[21:55]It's such a small, small part.
[21:56]I mean, no one goes around asking your GPA
[21:59]if you're walking around in the world.
[22:01]And some of the most successful people
[22:03]didn't do school well.
[22:04]And vice, you know, it just, yeah.
[22:07]And it breaks my heart to see, you know, kids,
[22:10]young people just putting all of this pressure on themselves
[22:13]and feeling so bad about who they are.
[22:16]Because of these like because of the admissions decision
[22:21]of a college that they probably wouldn't even be happy
[22:24]it in the first place.
[22:25]Where there has been or there are best new best friends.
[22:28]Hopefully not a husband.
[22:29]It's a little young to meet your husband in college,
[22:30]but it happens.
[22:31]So, keep your people who are gonna make you happy
[22:34]for the next 70 years of your life
[22:37]are waiting to be discovered by you.
[22:40]And they're just there.
[22:42]And this decision, but this admissions counselor
[22:44]to say, nope, you can't come here.
[22:46]We'll lead you to those people.
[22:48]And I really, I really do believe in that.
[22:50]I do believe in that sort of like, you know,
[22:52]that sort of fate and that sort of destiny
[22:55]and that things will work out as they should.
[22:57]Yes.
[22:58]And that there are just so many different paths.
[23:00]So many different.
[23:01]Right.
[23:02]Yes, maybe that has been, we lost out on,
[23:03]but maybe you've got to this other husband over here.
[23:07]The way I know a minute ago, you were talking about
[23:09]the pressures of social media and all that.
[23:11]And I happen to love that you inserted it,
[23:13]like an Instagram influencer is sort of a villain
[23:17]early on in the book.
[23:19]You had to.
[23:20]You had to.
[23:21]She's sort of a harmless villain.
[23:22]I mean, she's not totally harmless.
[23:23]So you know, I think some of those people
[23:26]are just caricatures of themselves.
[23:28]They're just like Saturday Night Live's kids.
[23:30]And I think it's hilarious that some of those influencers,
[23:34]they think they're posting to influence us,
[23:37]but really so many people follow them
[23:39]to sort of cause their caricatures.
[23:42]It's like they're amused by it.
[23:44]They can't wait to see the entertainment.
[23:47]Yeah, and then there's some who are not at all extreme
[23:50]in that way and they really do give you
[23:52]the best fashion advice.
[23:53]And you know, there's, I love following a lot of them
[23:56]when they're so, when they seem real, you know,
[23:59]at this point, it's 2024 where four years out of COVID,
[24:04]like we've been through so much like in the world,
[24:07]at this point, don't we just want real like a sliver of real?
[24:12]I mean, you can do the polished shots
[24:15]and the, you know, the party shots
[24:16]and there's beautiful moments in our life
[24:18]where we're like, oh my gosh, this is so Instagramable
[24:20]and can't wait to throw that up on my page and my feed
[24:24]and share this, but it's just about being real.
[24:27]Don't you think?
[24:28]Yes, yes, and this chick, she is, she is not that.
[24:33]Yeah.
[24:34]I definitely try to be real in my Instagram,
[24:36]although the other day after I got through
[24:38]like this ridiculously tough weekend of kid logistics,
[24:41]for the first time ever I posted like this victory slide,
[24:43]like I think I just ever middle for like,
[24:46]because we had so many places to be
[24:48]and I thought I had pulled it off and then,
[24:50]and I posted it and then my tattered came up
[24:52]from school the next day and I was like,
[24:54]you forgot Finn's birthday party, like I didn't go
[24:57]and I was like, oh my gosh.
[24:59]So yeah, I hate those.
[25:02]I hate, you know, and I just did that recently
[25:05]with Harriet, I just didn't see it in my inbox.
[25:09]I'm really bad with email.
[25:10]I'm like, I don't miss texts that I'm really bad with email.
[25:13]I think it's cause I've signed up for too much spam
[25:15]over the years, but yeah, I just wish that the kids
[25:19]would invite each other directly at this point
[25:21]instead of going through the mothers because it's like,
[25:23]yeah, I can't, when you just pass it on,
[25:25]are you free that day or are you not?
[25:27]And then you're responding, but again,
[25:29]that's another podcast, right?
[25:31]Well, tell me quickly about your experience meeting
[25:33]the queen of ink.
[25:34]Yeah, what a good note to end on.
[25:36]There's the messy real stuff of life
[25:40]and then there's my last couple of posts,
[25:44]which was anything but the messy part of life.
[25:46]In fact, it was a very hard transition to come back here
[25:50]after being going, I went to England over the weekend
[25:54]and I went to the queen's writing room reception.
[25:57]So it was as a huge royal watcher.
[26:00]I mean, I think anybody who knows me knows how much
[26:02]I love the royal family and love Queen Elizabeth
[26:04]and love King Charles.
[26:06]God save the king.
[26:07]And I think Camilla has done such a wonderful job so far
[26:10]with her reading room and encouraging people to read.
[26:14]And one of the statistics that I heard over the weekend
[26:18]was before I get to my curtsy
[26:20]was in just five minutes of reading a day.
[26:22]You know, it's like you have your 10,000 steps
[26:25]and your fruits and vegetables and all these things,
[26:28]but they say just five minutes of reading anything a day.
[26:32]And I don't think that counts as scrolling on your phone.
[26:34]It's like reading a book does just chemically
[26:37]so much to your brain and really like saves off Alzheimer's.
[26:40]And so she's, yeah, I think she's amazing.
[26:44]And she's so strong.
[26:45]And if we think about what she went through,
[26:47]it was like, you know, for years and years and years
[26:50]of just quietly doing her duty and getting through
[26:52]all of the attacks and the press,
[26:54]she's, I think she's really a remarkable person.
[26:57]Anyway, I met her.
[26:59]I didn't know what that was gonna happen.
[27:00]I knew it'd see her because it was a reception
[27:02]and I knew that there weren't that many people invited.
[27:05]So I was just thrilled with the idea of seeing her
[27:08]in a capacity that's different than standing on the street,
[27:12]which I did for her coordination.
[27:14]But this was, this was just incredible.
[27:16]I was in this queue and she sort of was coming along
[27:20]and saying, hello to people.
[27:21]And when I got, when she got to me, I just, you know,
[27:24]I did my curtsy, a little slight bow.
[27:27]We know which technically we're not her subjects
[27:30]as we know from, you know, we know from a lot of things,
[27:33]including Hamilton, that you'll be back, kept playing
[27:36]in my mind and I was thinking,
[27:37]I will be back and I will be back.
[27:41]And I wish we had lost the war
[27:42]because I wish I were your subject.
[27:45]I'm kidding, partly.
[27:47]But yeah, I did.
[27:47]I did a curtsy and then I shook her hand
[27:50]and we chatted for a few minutes and she was,
[27:51]she was so lovely and so warm.
[27:53]She's the best hair too.
[27:55]She's really good thick, like shiny hair that's just,
[27:59]but yeah, it was, it was thrilling.
[28:00]And of course, all of this is happening at Hampton Park Palace.
[28:03]So you're just like picking Henry VIII
[28:05]and it's just, it was a powerful moment.
[28:08]And I put it on Instagram and it looks freaking good.
[28:13]Yes, it does.
[28:14]But what I did to post next is did the pile of tennis shoes,
[28:19]for kids or runners, the pile of disarray and tennis shoes
[28:22]that I walked home to was of bar cry
[28:25]from Hampton Park Palace.
[28:27]Yes, we have, we have a lot of sandals
[28:29]and freaking stocks and sneakers.
[28:31]We got the whole mix at the front door
[28:32]and I'm just like, I think I'm just gonna pair these shoes
[28:35]and put them in a line and then just like leave them here.
[28:38]I mean, I'm gonna try to find the right closets.
[28:40]I'm just like gonna make it look a little bit neater.
[28:43]And carry mine from the outside,
[28:46]like from the outside of the door,
[28:48]I carry them upstairs and just line them up at the top
[28:50]at the stairwell.
[28:51]Yeah, that's fine.
[28:51]It makes me feel like a little better
[28:53]just to not see them when you walk in.
[28:56]Yeah. But, you know, what are you gonna do?
[28:58]We're a little missed those.
[28:59]One missed that at one point.
[29:02]Yes, that's another cliche, but it's so true.
[29:04]Oh, it's so true.
[29:05]It's so nice that they're all home, and yes, so.
[29:08]Emily, thank you so much.
[29:09]This was so fun and congratulations
[29:11]on another fabulous book.
[29:13]Well, thank you so much.
[29:14]And thanks again for having me on and we'll talk soon.
[29:18]Yes, it was so fun.
[29:20]Once did you catch up?
[29:21]Yes.
[29:23]Thanks for listening to moms.
[29:25]Don't have time to read books.
[29:26]If you love it, please leave a review and follow us
[29:29]on social at city Owens and at city readers.