It has been very much on my mind, the last few days, that tomorrow, June 6, is my ten-year wedding anniversary. (Also Dave’s. Not a coincidence!) As I’m still at a residency for a couple of weeks, I’m going to miss it, which is at least cyclically consistent of me: I also missed our first wedding anniversary, while on a 6-week trip to Singapore, where I taught creative writing with a friend of mine.

And yet, being married to Dave is one of my favorite things about my life. An all-time great situation. (N.B. I wrote this essay about our marriage around this time last year, and if you’re so inclined, this is a great time to revisit it. Thematic!)

As it happens, it’s also (today, not tomorrow) the one-year anniversary of Invitation to a Bonfire‘s publication. This, I can easily celebrate from anywhere! I already went on about this a bit, when the paperback came out recently, but so many people came together to help get this book into the world, and I’m so incredibly grateful to all of them—not least the readers who continue to find and enjoy the book now.

Hey, let’s remember the RAVE REVIEW Invitation received in the Financial Times, shall we? What did they say? Ah, yes.

“A ravishing tale of love, loss, desire and betrayal . . . at once a gripping psychological thriller and a finely crafted work of literature . . . Celt is an exquisite writer; her sentences take hold of you and will not let go . . . Invitation to a Bonfire is nothing less than an exhibition of stylistic virtuosity, a pyrotechnic display of fine writing.”

So that was a pretty good one. I can’t share a similar rave review of being married to Dave, but let me provide one: he is the dearest person to me that there could possibly be. He is funny. He is smart. He is kind. He makes the world my home.

He is currently puking his guts out from food poisoning? That’s not part of the review, I just feel really guilty that I’m not in Tucson to fetch him Gatorade, as he would surely do for me were the situation reversed. When I got my wisdom teeth out, Dave made me smoothies, pureed me soup, prepared home-made mac & cheese and brought these things to me, all, while I sat on the couch and fretted about whether or not I’d get dry socket. (I didn’t!) He made me feel very much that I was not alone in the world, and I feel it still.

Where I am, it’s rainy but warm, muggy and grey, and I am drinking tea and celebrating within myself. If you want to buy my book (or indeed any of my books) in the spirit of similar jubilee, I certainly encourage you to do so.

And once I’m home, we can all have cake.