I am back in Louisiana for my daddy’s birthday. I try to come every year, although I had an extra trip this past spring when the oldest of the four “boys” passed away after a long, good life that had its share of joys and sorrows. In the way that family reminiscing goes at these times, Daddy began to smilingly recall how my uncle and his wife met. It was during World War II when the two oldest brothers were in the Navy, and managed
somehow to be on leave together. They were from a farm in Arkansas and town was
several miles away. Notwithstanding the small size of the town, there was certainly more going on there than at the farm and in the course of one afternoon, they met up with one of the local teachers that Daddy knew and another young lady teacher who was visiting the friend. They all chatted for a bit and made arrangements to get together that evening; no particular thoughts of romance on Daddy’s mind. Daddy said that as they left, my uncle said something like, “You need to plan on being with Sally (or whatever her name was) because I’m going to be with the other one.” Daddy said he was fine with that, and then my uncle explained it had to be that way because that was the girl he intended to marry. Apparently Daddy assumed my uncle was joking except that my uncle and aunt were married less than three months later and the marriage continued for almost 67 years until his death parted them. In fact, my aunt and uncle
celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in Hawaii when we were stationed there. My husband was in Thailand participating in a big war game at the time and so Dustin and I went down to Waikiki and had dinner with my uncle and aunt. I wish I had known the charming story of their first meeting then, but what I did know was this couple sitting across from us had a palpable sense of happiness even after fifty years.

Sure, you can say, “Well, that was a long time ago, and things like that don’t happen now.” I agree it is easy to mistake “lust at first sight” for love, and I have certainly passed large quantities of tissues to weeping girlfriends who made that error, but as with my uncle and aunt, I have also known one or two other instances where it was
the real thing. How about you?  Anyone want to share thoughts on this one?

I had the pleasure today in giving a presentation at the Sunny Hills Assisted Living Facility in Homestead, Florida. It is a place that was designed to be as light and airy as possible, with pleasant decor and ample room for residents to move around and engage in social activites as they so choose. The director and a lady whom has been through all the different transitions of the facility, agreed that, Your Room at the End: Thoughts About Aging We’d Rather Avoid, was a book families of the residents should read, but they asked if I could prepare a presentation more appropriate for the residents. Capturing family memoirs is in Part 2 of Your Room and that seemed to be the right approach to take. My main point was that even though “young people” might not seem interested in “old stories”, bringing together famly stories and perhaps photographs and recipes or special traditions was something that could be then passed down from generation to generation. One of the women had actually written her memiors and was seeking the next step. I will be following up with her to see if perhaps there is something in her family history that might be of interest to a regional publisher. We had a fun exchange of ideas and we’ll see if anyone else in the group takes on this project.

The ability to scan items, perform internet searches, and self-publishing options are all tools that can be helpful in creating family memoirs.

I write fiction as well as non-fiction and do corporate work for a few clients, but when I write my novels I try to be careful with non-fiction aspects. If I am writing in a particular locale I will create restaurants and such things that don’t necessarily exist, but I won’t put hills in South Florida or alligators in Paris. I try to be especially careful when working through plot details, so my scuba instructor husband (also retired Army) frequently helps me with technical items or I seek out other experts when required. For both Shades of Murder and Shades of Truth, I had a legal angle that was important to each story. Naturally I turned to my uncle, a retired judge, and my cousin, a current judge, to check these points before I included them in the plot. Naturally, I then listed them in the acknowledgements section of the books.

A few days ago, I received a delightful email from an individual residing in North Carolina who had found the three Shades books on Kindle and enjoyed them, but was curious about the acknowledgement to my uncle and cousin. She was from the small town close to them and had in fact, gone to junior high and high school in the same town where they live. She too was a graduate of Northwestern State University in Louisiana and said they had a little enclave of NSU grads that got together occasionally. We had a great email exchange and aside from having gained a new fan, it was a wonderful reminder of how it is indeed a small world and how the Internet has enabled us to have an increased level of connectivity. (Yes, I know that some people don’t always think that increased connectivity is a good thing.)