205 Comments
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Nan Tepper's avatar

Wowee! Wowee! Wowee! You do magic every time your pen hits the page. I marvel at where you thoughts take you. It's delightful to be a fellow traveler on your journeys. I love that you bought a Woodstock (the bird) watch. You are always surprising. xo

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thank you, Nan. You are pretty surprising yourself!

Nan Tepper's avatar

It's true, you're right. I am. Come to the Kill the Patriarchy slam on June 20th at 5pm if you're available. The stories that I've heard so far are amazing, and I think you'll enjoy being in the audience. I'd love to have you there. We'll be sending you your subscriber ticket in the next few days. XO

Jane Trombley's avatar

Yes please come bc it’s my first time at at her soirée and I’d love to know your in the audience, a HV neighbor.

Linda Thompson's avatar

You have the knack of turning something ordinary, like the time of day, into a work of art. Thank you.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thank you very much, what a very nice thing to say.

Annie Scholl's avatar

Anytime that I wake to your writing is a very good time.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thanks, Annie. I love knowing that.

Beth Kephart's avatar

The power, Abby, of your final sentence. The way, in naming a simple truth, you whisper us through time.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

"...whisper us through time." Lovely, Beth, thank you.

Richard Van Kirk's avatar

One day you will find a watch in the laundry when you're pulling towels out of the dryer. Your detective mind will tell you, "Of course, it fell into a fold of towel that went into the hamper, caught in the towel threads, unwilling to let go. And you will examine it to see if it's the same one or different and then you will check to see if it's working but it isn't. You'll look at your new watch on your wrist and wonder if you should order another, just to have on hand. After all, all we have is the time we have left. Well done, thank you.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

But my house really does swallow things whole, including about ten towels. It's true!

Thank you though, for assuming I have any mind at all, especially a detective mind.

CAROLYN DICKEY's avatar

my house has a voracious appetite, especially for keys.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

oh poor you!!

GINNY ROWAN's avatar

“And if my hands get sticky a napkin.”So you do this too? Love it

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Oh good! Oh thank you!

Rona Maynard's avatar

I loved that too.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thank you, Rona, such a relief!

Jan Elisabeth's avatar

gorgeous -- that ending 'but it will never be this time again' :)

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thank you, thank you. Makes me happy to read that.

Susan OBrien's avatar

Gorgeous. Brilliant. Just so wonderfully, richly, amazingly you. Good times.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Susan, thank you again and again.

Amelia Demma's avatar

My favorite time of day is dawn. I love it when my eyes open at that exact moment when the skies are dark as dark gets and I get to watch and listen as the day wakes up. I can attest to it, it truly is darkest before the dawn. And, it is wonderful. It feels so very private, just me and the coming day. Our little secret, that time when we meet.

Go ahead, snooze your way right past the quiet, gentle, relentless return of daytime. You’re missing out on something special. But, please don’t join me. This is my time.

Amelia Demma's avatar

Oh, Abby! Oh, my goodness! My dear Abby, whom I adore, I did not mean to suggest that the “Do Not Disturb” sign was intended for any individual person, least of all, you. Oh, my dear, I am so sad that you would ever feel any slight from me. I have welcomed and embraced and reached for and longed for your voice, morning, noon, night, weekdays, weekends. holidays and all days.

“Abigail Thomas” is a constant in my life.

Please pardon and forgive.

(Could one’s writing fail more spectacularly than offending a most favorite writer? Sigh…ugh!)

Abigail Thomas's avatar

No! I didn't feel slighted!! I was iust respecting your dawn awakening! Please, I knew you didn't mean anything awful! Don't worry at all! And thank you, thank you, thank you!

Amelia Demma's avatar

Thank you for the kind reply, Abby. It is 5:29 a.m. in East Hampton, dark skies have now given way to the daylight. I am smiling thinking about this community of readers and writers, all of us Abigail Thomas fans. Stoked that I can still rock my “member in good standing” status.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

I won't bother you during your dawn awakening. Your time is as precious as mine,

Jane Trombley's avatar

I won’t be joining you bc I’m doing my own delicious predawn thing. It IS a wonderful hour within 24

Amelia Demma's avatar

This morning, the sky went from black to a purplish blue before fading to a cool shade of daylight. Hoping your daybreak was as awesome.

Jane Trombley's avatar

I has grey/blue/blackish as though a storm was brewing but the bright orange/pink told a different, and accurate, story.

Wendy Varley's avatar

Chair as office, coffee bar and napkin made me smile.

Reading this at something past 11 in the morning in the UK. I know it must be 11-ish, because the coffee’s on.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

I had t confess to the mistreatment of my chair. It also has ink stains and paint all over it.Happy it made you smile instead of shudder. Thank you.

Abigail R. Esman's avatar

I love knowing that about your chair. Looking forward to your thoughts about the chair and its ink stains and its paint and what they remind you of and how you sit there and something else so marvelously Abigail Thomas that no one else in the entire world could write...

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thank you. I've been thinking a lot about this chair. I hope I can do something more. Thank you again.

Anna C Rumin's avatar

The salamander - the unexpected gift - I love ❤️

JK THOMAS's avatar

(Red salamander. Red watch band.) Thanks for your comment!

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Maybe that's why the band.

JK THOMAS's avatar

!!

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Yes, an addition to my stash.I have quite a few unexpected creatures. But I still wonder where my watch went. Oh well. Got my new Timex.

Thank you, Anna.

Diana's avatar

Olive…What a lovely name. Yes I have a dog, his name is Gibson, he makes me laugh every day

He is the one that told me that every day is a good day, looking and sniffing for peemail and responding to all his friends that he has not met. It sometimes takes him a very long minute to determine if he needs to reply, sigh, sometimes a ten minute outing will take significantly longer

He’s worth the wait

Abigail Thomas's avatar

wonderful, that dog of yours. peemates. yes. And they ccan proobably snell yesterday, and the day before that. It takes time! and Dogs know how to take their time. Ah. A new idea.

Georgia O'Brien Patrick's avatar

Abigail, the mark of fabulous writing is the temptation to put your words on a shirt that I shall wear every day: I don't know what I'm doing and I've been doing it all day

Abigail Thomas's avatar

So glad you liked that, it was so terribly true! Thank you.

Rona Maynard's avatar

Everything is about time, isn’t it? But not every good writer can do with a moment what you just did. You’re the only one I know who can.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Rona, so very nice of you to say. Thank you very much.

Rona Maynard's avatar

A true thing to say.

Kelley Clink (they/she)'s avatar

Oh, that final line! Thank you, Abigail.

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Thank you very much, so happy you liked it.

Jennifer Ward Dudley's avatar

Truth . Nothing but. I’ve never worn or bought a watch . No matter day, night or mid of I have a unique ability to know the time within a minute. On occasion exact. My personal info on the bottom of my email . Name. Cell number . A sentence I created . “Time is ticking .” Its 824. My lab is lightly snoring . These are the best of times. Jenn

Abigail Thomas's avatar

Well, that's pretty cool, Jennifer. Wow.