As I mentioned a couple of days ago, my mother was pretty horrified when she saw the dedication of my book.
The dedication in question ("To my parents -- who never loved me enough!") was intended as a joke. Even though my mother doesn't find it funny, my father thinks it's hilarious -- and was even suggested by him!
Sort of...
When I told him I was dedicating the book to him and my mother he said, "Oh, no! Only if you say something like, 'To my parents -- who never told me they loved me enough.'"
I thought it was a really funny line and an hour or two later sent my editor the dedication, "To my parents -- who never loved me enough!"
"That is not the same thing!" my mother has since taken pains to tell me. (Along with the somewhat overly dramatic: "This is worse than what Philip Roth did to his parents!")
Well, OK. As someone in journalism, I recognize that the two are not quite the same thing. Not telling someone you love them enough is not the same thing as not loving them enough. She has a point. (But, come on, mom!) In any event she has asked me to issue a correction. Very well:
"To my parents -- who never told me they loved me enough!"
