The Shabby Shining
where the world comes together
This week we’re working from the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham, MA while visiting Kevin’s parents. This Tudor-Castle themed hotel, a fixture of Kevin’s adolescence, is as empty and creepy as the Overlook Hotel, if slightly less glamorous. Grass is growing out of the pool cover. The kitchens—where Kevin cut his teeth as a prep-cook back in the day—have all been shuttered, and the bar is dark. There is a Starbucks, but it’s only open for three hours a day and is definitely run by a dog-loving ghost.
In the past, I would have been creeped out by the idea of staying in a haunted hotel, but a year+ of itinerant living with other people’s possessions has rendered this environment almost…restful? Cleansing. Definitely neutral. Freddie is very happy because we’re letting him sleep in the bed, and I am too. It feels like a sleepover.
I was wondering why it’s so comfortable, and then today it struck me that so much of the past year has felt like staying in a ghost hotel with Kevin and Freddie, that actually staying in a haunted inn—even as things open up, even as they return to “normal”—alleviates a certain amount of cognitive dissonance.
It is, after all, one of life’s great luxuries to have one’s actions align with one’s feelings. I would know; I’m a guest at the Sheraton, “Where the world comes together.”
Now that Ursa Tour has concluded, I’m going to dial back newsletter again, probably to once a month or as needed (aka when I have news!). I so appreciate all the support I’ve received on the way up to and during the book’s release. It’s been a blast to be in touch with so many of you again, and I look forward to continuing to check in as the summer progresses. Until next time!
xx
