Category: Uncategorized

Two years ago today I was walking across the grounds of the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee with my sister Lori, when we got the call that Mother had given up her battle with Alzheimer’s earlier the same morning. It is a horrible disease that robs you of the person you love before they physically leave you. You mourn in little bits until it is finally over. You don’t mourn then, because your loved one is finally free.

The disease had been creeping into Mother’s brain for years. There were little hints along the way. But as horrible as the disease can be, there are moments of humor and grace. Mother relived some of her favorite times and believed they just happened. Like the day I called and she asked me if I was as tired as she was from yesterday’s activities. When I asked what activities, she had been in Champaign-Urbana at U of I’s Dad’s Day activities in 1975. She was right, I was tired the next day nearly forty years ago.

When she started forgetting people’s names, she never forgot her son-in-laws’ or grandson’s names. The men made a bigger impression on her, they always did.

At her 80th birthday party she held court in the middle of the dancing and eating. I’m not sure she knew who all of us were but she loved being the center of attention! And she got to meet her newest great grandson. She held him without any instruction about what to do, those arms still remembered how to hold a baby after all the practice she’d had.

Today I am remembering my Mother the Brownie and 4H leader. The mother who taught you and your friends how to knit. The mother who took us school shopping into the big city of Chicago to visit with her sister, Auntie Shirl and Uncle Gene. The mother who wanted us to see the world starting with summer camps in the Keys or riding in Kentucky or the Art Institute. The mother who swore we’d go to college even if she had to go and sit with us every day.

Today I remember Mother before the ravages of the devil’s disease. Rest in peace.

 

I have been blessed to be the oldest in a large family. For a long time we were all girls. My dad saw no difference in raising girls or raising boys so I went deer hunting at twelve, the only girl in junior high to get out of school for that when boys did it all the time. We all learned how to throw a spiral pass with a football so we wouldn’t throw like a girl. My dad always said we could do anything and be anything. No restrictions for being a girl or because we lived in a small town in rural Wisconsin. I was raised to believe that all things were possible. Daddy also said “If you see someone with something you would like to have remember that they either worked hard for it or paid a lot for it or both.” He was a generous man who expected alot but wouldn’t hesitate to give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. I left home knowing I could always come back if I needed to and because of that, I never needed to. Knowing you could survive failure made striving not to fail easier. My sisters are strong, successful women who inspire me to write about strong heroines who do what has to be done to protect the people they love. Thanks Daddy!

 

When the romance or suspense hits a lull there is nothing like sitting and spinning to let my characters keep working on the story. Before I know it, the lull is over and the words flow onto the screen.

I have been writing for years but this is the first time I’m writing for publication on my very own website. This is the place to show new things, explore ideas and share the creative process. Scary and exhilarating. Hope you’ll join me.