A love story shared in memory of Tomie dePaola.

This is a story that Tomie relished in. He often asked me to tell this story at his gatherings. He beamed when I told it. So, I share it with you today.

**thread**

n the summer of 2006, I started dating a girl who captured my heart. (SPOILER ALERT: She’s now my wife.) In the first few weeks of our dating life, Gina and I didn’t talk about work. We didn’t allow our vocations to define who we were to one another.

But one night, Gina made an amazing dinner and I told her that I was a children’s book author and illustrator. She sprang up and ran to her room. She emerged with her childhood copy of Strega Nona.

The book meant so much to her as a kid that she had brought her dog-eared copy with her on every single move since leaving home for college. “Have you met this guy?” she asked. “No,” I responded. “I’ve never met Tomie dePaola.”

Just a few months later, I found myself in Los Angeles at the SCBWI annual conference as a faculty member alongside Tomie himself. What were the odds? What an honor to teach alongside a man whose work and career I admired so deeply.

And more importantly—with someone who held such a special place in my girlfriend’s heart. Strega Nona represented Gina’s childhood. Over the course of the conference, Tomie and I became fast friends. He's an easy person to laugh uproariously with—a trait I find paramount.

One day, Gina was having an incredibly difficult day at work (which is an understatement, it haunts her to this day due to the actions of a terrible, predatory man), so I asked Tomie to leave her a voicemail. He obliged and Gina held on to that voicemail for years.

At the end of the conference, there was an autographing party. I bought Tomie’s art book, Tomie dePaola: His Art & His Stories. It’s a hefty volume--a hardcover art book, ie: not cheap... At that point, I knew that this girl back home was the one.

So, I asked Tomie to sign it, I asked him to sign it to “Gina and Jarrett”. I know, a big commitment. Even my friends looked at me sideways. I did just start dating this girl. What if the relationship didn't work out? Did I mention how expensive the book was?

But by December of that year, I proposed marriage and Gina and I bought a house in Northampton. The first piece of art that I bought for our home was a piece by Tomie—a scene from a Strega Nona book. I presented Gina with the artwork on Valentine’s Day.

As the years went on, Tomie became such a dear, dear friend to our family. He welcomed us into his home & we welcomed him into ours. I've never seen Gina so happy as the time when Tomie devoured her porchetta, an Italian delicacy that she cooked for the first time, just for Tomie

We’ve enjoyed many dinners out with Tomie and his assistant, Bob, where we continued to laugh uproariously. And of course, we were there to cheer him on at the Carle Museum of Picture Book Art when they mounted a massive showing of his work.

Gina loves Christmas. I mean loves the holiday. As did Tomie. Every February, she looks at me as though I’m the Grinch when I pull out the red and green storage bins. Tomie sided with Gina on this...

And when Tomie helped us celebrate G’s birthday one year, he showered her with some of his Christmas decorations. (Either to make her happy or to spite me, not sure...)

Imagine our surprise a few years later when Tomie presented us with a copy of Strega Nona's Gift, A Strega book about Christmas and dedicated to us.

Stories last forever but somehow, people don't. The Earth had Tomie for 85 years, but then he had a bad fall and he is no longer with us. 85 years feels fleeting for a man like Tomie.

If there was ever a guy who would want a few thousand people at his memorial, it would be Tomie. We will gather at some point and celebrate this amazing human. In the meantime, we will blow three kisses to the heavens.

And yes, Gina did eventually get her childhood copy of Strega Nona signed.

And in case you missed it, I posted a recording of an interview I conducted with Tomie some years ago.

http://www.studiojjk.com/thebookreport/tomie_final.mp3

And I should add, when Gina and I found out G was pregnant with our first kid, I needed to get on a plane that night to attend the Texas Library Association. I found myself with Tomie at the hotel bar that night. He was the first person I told that I’d be a dad.

He told me he’d be the kid’s fairy godmother but don’t expect the kid to be in his will. That humor? Classic Tomie.