Patchett's long and twisting memoir/essay "These Precious Days" relates how Patchett's professional connection . Direct flights to Los Angeles had been suspended, and even if shed wanted to fly to Dallas to wait and see whether the connecting flight would be canceled (because thats what happened now), her weekly blood draws underscored the fact that she scarcely had enough white cells to qualify for chemo, much less protect her from a pandemic while on a commercial flight. I asked her about her trip to Stanford for the biopsy, her flight to Nashville. She and Ken put what mattered most in the car and started driving, waiting to see which way the wind would shift the wall of flame. My mother raised me to be very religious, very God-conscious. When she gave us the painting she had done of Sparky on the back of the couch, I felt as if Matisse had painted our dog.. It was just that we had piled up so much junk to keep from hearing it. Even as Sookis white count continued to hover in the neighborhood of nonexistent, her CA 19-9 cancer marker number (that unreliable indicator we relied on) was dropping. I wanted to go to bed and read. I floated upstairs in a world that would not stop changing. . There was no money or freedom or wherewithal to buy another ticket and see him sooner. This article was originally published inThe SpectatorsUK magazine. When the event was over and more pictures had been taken and everyone had said how much theyd enjoyed absolutely everything, Tom Hanks and his assistant and I found ourselves alone again, standing at the end of a long cement hallway by a stage door, saying good night and goodbye. A transformer must have blown up somewhere close by. You dont think this is crazy?, I didnt say that, but I know youre trying to help Sooki.. Sooki and I shined our flashlights on the smooth bark of the trees that lay across the streets. The road forks and forks again. She was the magnet in the compass. And it was working for Hanks that led Raphael to Patchett who would later become an invaluable friend to Raphael during her cancer treatment and artistic journey. But I didnt forget. The three of us were standing, back of the theater in the dark. The paintings came from a landscape of dreams, pattern on pattern, impossible colors leaning into one another. You can live here for the rest of your life, I said, and I meant it. At her first meeting with Hanks, Patchett also met his personal assistant, Sooki Raphael, whose unusual evening coat, its huge peonies . Almost from the moment we finished that first practice, she identified it as part of her recovery, the thing she needed to stay alive. She asked whether that was cheating and was told not to worry about it. He told me he was going to take his grandsons to the river to go boating. Ann Patchett one night happened to read a short story by the actor Tom Hanks, surprised by its literary quality. She looked like Los Angeles in winter. The world asks us to engage, and for the most part we can, but given the choice wed rather stay home. She needed me to take her to the hospital for an X-ray. How it happened is told in the title story ofThese Precious Days, Patchetts second collection of essays. Travel while staying at home! Could any business wish for a better spokesperson? I cleaned out the freezer and the refrigerator and at every moment thought, We are so lucky. Because if I didnt know that Sooki had a husband, how much did she know about me, about us? I would leave again on Sunday for Virginia. Most recently, she had a solo exhibition of paintings at ROSEGALLERY called These Precious Days, just like Patchetts piece. I had interviews scheduled all day on Tuesday, Sooki had chemo on Wednesday, and my friends were leaving for California on Thursday. Its not like youre stuck in one place. I would have given her a hug but for the pandemic. Outside the rain was dark and lashing. You okay? Sooki asked. You understand that other people dont live this way?. I hoped he would ask me to join them. They sailed to St.Barts in a beautiful old wooden boat named Christmas. Off we went to bed, the book and I, and in doing so put the chain of events into motion. She brought her paintings upstairs to show us: a person who was too shy to say good night most nights was happy for us to see her work. The assistant was a tiny woman wearing a fitted black-velvet evening coat embroidered with saucer-size peonies. For what? he asked. I've got mail today, from one of Hollywood's top stars - Tom Hanks. She had to pack her boxes the next day, Tuesday. I came and watched from the open door. She was Tom Hanks's assistant and there was work to do. Sooki let my friends with the plane know that she would be there on Thursday. may 21, 2019: Thank you for your concern about my medical procedure. At Harper's Magazine, author Ann Patchett relates working with Tom Hanks, through which she meets and befriends his assistant, Sooki. You should have planned for the financial fallout of having pancreatic cancer twice?. It was a shaggy dog of a story by a woman passionate about dogs, touching on a variety of subjects, including her friendship with Tom Hanks' assistant Sooki Raphael; Raphael's treatment. Niki works at the bookstore. I would bring her stacks of art books from the closed bookstore and she all but ate them. Nothing. I keep throwing things out. I would save what I could save, and, along with my business partner, Karen Hayes, and a small, ferocious staff (including my sister Heather) who never backed down, I was determined to save the bookstore. She worked for Tom Hanks. You cant go home before Sunday., She was serious, but she was also tired, and so I could get her to agree. Tom and I are waiting to go on. She made wedding cakes that tasted as good as they looked. I studied what did not come naturally, she told me. The trees were down but not the houses, and the trees, from what I could see, hadnt fallen on the houses. We had never spoken on the phone. We played Scrabble and did our yoga from memory after Karl went to bed. I sent her books on color theory. They have it, she said. I met an old friend from school who lived up in Harlem and she drove me out. The wind was coming down the street like a train. They arrive daily in padded mailersnovels, memoirs, essays, historiesthings I never requested and in most cases will never get to. The car was taking me into yellow, not a field of yellow but into the color itself. What with all the news of this new virus they thought there was a good chance people werent going to show up. When undergoing treatment for cancer, looking inward for inspiration can be a very cathartic journey that helps with recovery. I just keep moving forward. I would tell you we were idiots, but thats true only in retrospect. No events scheduled for January 20, 2023. KELLY: Well, it's really, really true, so it was a pleasure to get to say it to you instead of just pining to my book club about how I wish you had another book coming out. On the first Sunday in May, in the late afternoon, a storm kicked up, not expected but not a surprise either. I had spent my professional life looking at my calendar, counting down the days I had left at home. As it turned out, Sooki and I needed the same thing: to find someone who could see us as our best and most complete selves. Out on the tarmac, I could see her again exactly as she was, resplendent in her velvet coat, her black beret. Never want to see this again? Would it even work? Farley announced the news of his opt-out in an Instagram video saying, in part, I cannot afford to lose another parent or loved one Though the competitor in me badly wants to play this season, I cannot ignore whats going on in my heart, and I must make the decision that brings me the most peace., 2021 NFL Draft Prospect Caleb Farley Tells SurvivorNet His Mom Was Like a Superhero Before She Lost Her Battle with Breast Cancer; Heres What Got Him Through. I was angry at myself. Shed scarcely left the house for more than three months and yet it was impossible to push the world back into the Mary Poppins suitcase. Good, I thought. He didnt know her, and I didnt exactly know her either. Ken will like it here, too. 17, 2019: Hey! You have a pretty head, I told Sooki when the job was done. It was anchored by a quarter inch of hair at most but it was indeed anchored. Shed called me from outside the airport. In making the journey to Oz, she had found the strength and clarity she needed to go home again. PATCHETT: Well, thank you. You will love her. There is a possibility that a $25 painting acquired in 1899 was an original Raphael worth $26 million. Astonishing to come across such a friendship at this point in life. Thats like the building blocks of my, of my life, Farley told SurvivorNet. He figures out problems that other people have tried and failed to solve for years. She had their protection, and that knowledge had opened up so much time in the day. Shes there in Patchetts basement for the rest of lockdown. Well, Sooki said when we were finished. Books are fun! Twenty-five people died in Nashville the night of those tornadoes. The other partners in his clinic asked him to stay home and practice telemedicine until there was a better sense of how the pandemic would be resolved. But before her passing, she had a long career in the film industry which included her time spent as Hanks assistant before indulging her passion for painting. He was watching the weather. I was copied on a barrage of emails I had no business reading, reports of molecular profiling, adenocarcinoma, tumor tissue for genetic analysis. Wed had a very good life. She lit up with all that breath. I wanted to say hello very quietly so as not to bother her. It had been happening for a while. She sent updateschapter eight now, chapter twelve. We climbed over branches, met an impasse, turned to walk another way. While they were gone I tried to imagine it: the cancer back, the wallet gone, strangers. My little dog Rose, now ten years gone, came out to meet me, running giant circles of exuberance in the soft grass. Lucy said she didnt have time for this. We saw two movies with my sister. We would all proceed with our lives except that now we would be together. In a heartfelt tribute after she died, Wilson told followers about the lovely artist that was her dear friend and shared some of her vibrant paintings. This storywhich begins and beginsstarts again here. Read More The Circle (2017) Assistant Sully (2016) . There were no words because it wasnt about words. My whole life Ive wanted this time. Nell stayed for six months and we loved her. In fact we were so exactly in the middle of history that we had no way of understanding what we were seeing. Could we talk about it sometime? Im supposed to be flying.. And painting and painting. Of course we could. Because I was trying to protect myself. Your nun? he wrote, as opposed to what most people would say, Your nun?. On the Trail of a Mountain Lion The footprint was in the middle of the trail. I would be gone for the night, and once I got back my friend Emma Straub was coming to visit. Information; Artists; Auctions; Exhibitions; Magazine; Services; Market Analysis . I thought about how extraordinarily famous you would have to be to have someone like that working as your assistant. We could all be boring together.. I could see Ken and how hes always been there for me, how he steps back to let me shine. I cant tell you how grateful I am. You must have Mary Poppinss suitcase.. It had been more than two years since I met Sooki in a theater in Washington. But also undeniable are Patchetts generosity of spirit, compassion and gift for friendship. I promise to be a more reliable friend and pen pal. I cant always be the one whos taking everything.. Most days I went to work at Parnassus for several hours, filling boxes. There was a little kitchen in the dorm, and I got a book, and I made Thanksgiving dinner. I want to meet Tom Hanks, she said. These precious days Ill spend with you, I sang in my head. There was a six-hour playlist that the Johns Hopkins team had put together that was meant to somehow guide you safely through the experience. Suffice to say the car I was strapped into followed a tunnel down into dark and darker colors, narrower spaces. I met the hosts of the event and a few people who worked for them. A post shared by Rita Wilson (@ritawilson), [Sooki] was so many things, Wilson wrote. I paid the check. You cant go home, and we dont want you to go home.. My husband, Ken, will come down for at least part of the time, once Ive started chemo, and I may have other visitors, so I think I will explore some other options in the area, but I cant tell you how touched I am that youve extended the offer. How it happened is told in the title story of These Precious Days, [] Sooki didnt talk about her husband or her children or her friends or her employer; she talked about color. I think well be back tomorrow. Coping after the loss of a loved one to cancer is never going to be an easy journey. 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