A Multitude of Beth Kepharts

Yesterday, while I was lounging about at the dance studio, the very gorgeous (you should see her) Tirsa said to me, "Do you know that there are, like, a ton of Beth Kepharts?"

She was on Facebook, trying to friend me. I was the forest, apparently, that could not be found for the trees.

A ton of me(s), I thought. How tres convenient! Could one possibly do my laundry and the other cook and the other get caught up with that pile of magazines? Oh. Please. I am aware of one poor alter ego, right in this neighborhood, who gets called upon, on occasion, to read from one of my books. I had the chance, once, to apologize in person, when she showed up at one of my readings to shed some light on her most unfortunate circumstance. I told her that I'd share the spoils of my fame someday, if ever spoils there are.

(From the looks of things, that won't be happening anytime soon.)

But I'm banking on the fact that none of these Beth Kepharts have had a day like the one I've had—an email from my brother-in-law of Seville, at four AM. A call from my Dallas-based brother-in-law nearer to ten (he wanted me to open a box he'd sent; he said, Beware, for the love stuffed inside might spatter out and stain you). A call after that from my Salvadoran mother-in-law, a woman I met just weeks before my wedding, a woman who taught me coffee farming, a woman I didn't think knew much of anything about English until she lay on my sofa for a week reading my book about her country, Still Love in Strange Places, laughing at the funny parts). A note later on from Adela, my aunt-in-law, if I might use such a term for one of the most glamorous women on earth.

And in between, my friends. And yesterday, my father. A moment ago, my son, that now-familiar happiness in his voice, a story he's been writing on his mind. And in a few hours, the sea.

That's this Beth Kephart. She has rain in her hair in the photo up above. She wears her lousy, ripped-up jeans.

PS Oh yes. I've been nominated me for a bloggers choice award. If you want to play along and vote, I'd welcome that.