Ballet Shoe

I'm in my new office. It's exciting and only a little bit terrifying.

I don't yet have my new computer system so I've brought my laptop from home to use as my primary work computer for now. It serves me perfectly well at this point. But there's one problem. The laptop is my writing computer. It has the manuscript of "Standing Room," countless short stories and essays and starts of many novels. They are all backed up, of course, but I'm finding it hard to have all that creative work resident in my office, even if for a short period of time. It's like I've crossed a great divide.

One of the first objects I placed on the desk in my new office is a Freed's pointe shoe. It's been in every office I've had for the last 20 years. The shoe is a Susan Jaffe reject that I obtained when I was doing volunteer work for American Ballet Theatre. It's unused but the inside is torn up a little and the satin on the tip is slightly ripped.

I always keep a pointe shoe on my desk. It's a reminder that there are much more difficult things to do everyday than to counsel clients and appear in court (or sit and try to write fiction for that matter). It's a reminder of the things I love and how hard they are to achieve and how fleeting. And it's a wonderful conversation piece.