This is my Grandma Diane. Today would have been her 81st birthday. She always encouraged me to write, and I once told her I would dedicate my first book to her. I was mostly kidding around because I never expected to actually write a book. Years later, when I began working on my children’s book, I told her about the project and said I would dedicate it to her. This was the perfect opportunity too, because the book was about chickens and my grandma used to tell me about the two bantam hens she once raised, and how they made the cutest little hardboiled eggs to garnish the top of her potato salads. Her kitchen was filled with chicken décor, little statues and paintings, some of which decorate my own kitchen now. I was devastated when Grandma Diane passed away a few years ago. I was still working on the children’s book, and though I used to send her updates and pictures of the illustrations, it broke my heart to know she wouldn’t get to see the finished product. I still can’t talk about i
