Out of the Closet and Onto the Air

Where we live, we have a favorite radio station. You know, the kind you put a bumper sticker on the back of your car and maybe win a prize. Not that we have that bumper sticker on our car….. My bumper sticker says “No Farms, No Food.” But we do enjoy this radio station immensely – great mix of music and funny interviews. I used to be an avid NPR listener but when I had Julia and she became a toddler and could actually understand what they were saying on NPR, I stopped. It was too much about WAR and rather violent. I didn’t think a 3 year old needed to know about it – there’s a lifetime left for her to know about wars and people not getting along around the world.

All this said, Julia has become a bit of a celebrity with the DJ's at WRSI. The first time she was on the air she was interviewed by Rachel Maddow – who used to be the host of the Morning Show on WRSI. Yes, that Rachel who is now on MSNBC and Air America. She was absolutely hilarious every morning and such a smart person to listen to and wake up to. One time, she went to my brother-in-law’s milk room and interviewed him as he milked his cows. Julia and I met Rachel when we brought her some eggs from our guinea hens. What a gracious woman and of course, she put Julia on the air. It was her first radio piece and it was really cute. I think she was four or so.

Julia doesn’t know that the person speaking through the radio isn’t her friend. She thinks they all are. Kelsey Flynn, the next morning show host (and a fellow Jersey girl), became fast friends with Julia. Julia called her multiple times and Kelsey always got some lovely little tidbits of wisdom from Julia. I’ve got a bunch of audio tapes of those precious little kid moments – like the time she called Kelsey all concerned because Eloise was going to lose her home at the Plaza Hotel – Julia was incensed that The Plaza was going to be turned into condominiums. Who knew a 4 year old knew what the heck a condominium was. Here she is doing a Christmas promo for The River's Charity drive to collect toys for kids a couple years ago.

Now Monte Belmonte is the charming and funny host of The River’s Morning Show. Julia befriended him a while back. He has a lovely wife Melissa and two cute kids - Atticus and Enzo - and we often run into around town. He's a smart, funny and fun guy. One day, Julia brought Monte some bacon from our pigs and he has been forever grateful.

Because I’m going to be doing a Booksigning at Webs in Northampton, MA this Saturday at 5 p.m, I thought I should pull in a favor from Julia's friends at WRSI. Julia and I delivered some Julia Yarn to Monte a couple weeks ago. You see -- the guy CROCHETS! He talks about his crocheting all the time. He picks it up during Red Sox and Patriots games and he crochets scarves like a mad man. So the gift of yarn was not an odd one - it was appropriate.

And so, I was out of the closet. Monte and Kelsey found out I wasn't only Julia's mom but I was also a knitwear designer and had a yarn line. Yesterday, he interviewed Julia and I and the little radio interview ran this morning on WRSI. Click here to listen to it. It's actually pretty funny.

Thanks Monte for the interview and the radio spot. Thanks Lori for figuring out how you all can listen to it. Thanks to Webs for hosting the booksigning this Saturday. But mostly thanks to my cute little girl Julia who has taken me places I never would have gone if she wasn't in my life.

Hope to see some of you on Saturday evening - 5 p.m. at Webs.