Page 14 - Philly Girl

xiv Janice Shapiro

thinking and believing, even until the final months, that
she might somehow defy the odds and live into her 90s like
her mother did. I could not, would not, picture it ending.
But Janice always had another surprise up her sleeve.
At the very end of December 2017, she told me about the
stories she had been writing. She’d been at it for 25 years, and
aspired to turn them into a book. She recognized that she
needed an editor, someone to help give it shape. She asked
me to work with her on this project. Jan began to send me
the vignettes that make up Philly Girl. I was astounded. The
stories were warm and witty, intimate and evocative. Brutally
honest and often hilarious. Pure Janice. Turns out—much
to my surprise and delight—she was actually a very good
writer. A natural. We worked, back and forth, well into the
spring and early summer of 2018. This project brought us
closer together than we had been in many years, and it was so
meaningful to both of us. I see it as a gift she gave me. And
here, in this book, is a gift that Jani gives you, the reader.
Make no mistake. This is not a book about cancer. It is
not a memoir about battling an illness, though she alludes
to that sorrow in places. Mostly it is a book about Janice:
daughter, wife, mother, grandmother. Friend, reader, trav-
eler, listener, healer, foodie, writer. It is a memoir in the tru-
est sense. Jani’s memories, from the time she was a child,
through every stage of her eventful life.
These stories, these vignettes, demonstrate Jani’s passion
for living, her grace under pressure, her ability to forgive
and accept forgiveness, and her struggle to remember and to
understand. They trace the trajectory of her journey—like
a dance, she traveled solo, partnered, and with a group. A
dancer to the end.

Bonnie Gordon
Spring 2019