We often tell the story of Summer Grimes, whose sixer was selected as the most all encompassing and slapped on the front cover of our little literary effort. For almost a year she ignored my congratulatory emails. In this email, she explains why, then hops right aboard the good ship Six:

“Dear Rachel,
I am completely ecstatic to be a part of this project. One year ago as I sat alone in my hostel in Budapest and read an email informing me my six word memoir “Not Quite What I Was Planning…” was to be the title of a publication, I shrugged it off with cynicism. (Oh right, where do I fill in my credit card number?)

I was a few days into a month-long solo trek through Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Austria and Czech Republic in a mostly earnest effort to figure out what was next for an unemployed 24-year old twin cities resident with half an English degree. I forwarded your email to a friend with the subject title “Hey Something Seems Fishy :)”. We thought it was a very clever little scam.

I am currently overjoyed as an hour ago, I found out your email was not a scam at all (thanks to a few clicks via Google and a breathless conversation with an avid NPR-listener)! Thank you so much for considering my submission and even if I wasn’t good enough to make it into your book, I will humbly allow you to use my six words as your title

Sincerely and Ecstatically,
Summer N. Grimes

P.S. I am bespectacled also… and a hairstylist. Maybe I could give you the best haircut of your life and we’d become best friends and then we could be on The Today Show.”

You hear that, NBC?

Tags: Not Quite What I Was Planning, Summer Grimes