Gulf Shores

Gulf Shores
Photographer Patricia Gulick

Sunday, September 28, 2014

2/14/14 RMB Valentine’s Day



2/14/14 RMB Valentine’s Day

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope your day has been filled with smiles, hugs and the kind of sunshine that glows from within when you hear from a certain someone or share a conversation with a really good friend.

Here is a highlight from the last couple of weeks. I noticed Nine Lives to Die: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery will be available soon.

“The unabashed loves of [Rita Mae Brown’s] life . . . are infectious. Perhaps because they are so clearly heartfelt, it’s easy to be swept up in the glory of her passions.”New York Journal of Books

“Murder and mayhem are the order of the day in bestseller [Rita Mae] Brown’s well-plotted twenty-second Mrs. Murphy mystery. . . . Brown’s idyllic world, with its Christian values, talking animals, and sympathetic middle-aged pet owners, has understandably struck a chord with many readers.”Publishers Weekly

On a personal note, I worry that I have overstepped with my new friend Teddy. As you well know, I can be a bit intense sometimes. Before I even voice such fears to her, she puts them to rest with a sweet Valentine’s wish and adamant appreciation for my friendship.

So, encouraged to be me, I posted a Valentine’s message to the general masses, to the hearts of souls passing by your blog that might visit for a moment. (See the Happy Valentine’s Day posted 2/14/14).

Now it is time to call it a day, send you thanks for your newest book and best wishes in all you do,

Loraine

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

2/3/14 RMB August 27th 1967



2/3/14 RMB August 27th 1967

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

When playing with our gifts sometimes we get carried away. I find the more significant a situation is, the clearer the resonance. I try to be careful, but sometimes I overstep. Teddy said go for it. And I did.

She had mentioned “the accident” enough times for me to know it was a serious event in her life. She also said she had a horse. So when I asked if I could find the details on my own, and she allowed it, I wondered if it had been a riding accident. That didn’t feel right. When I concentrated on it, I got that it was a car accident, someone ran a stop sign, there was impact on the passenger side, a female, either her or a passenger was hurt on that side, there was someone else dear to her in the car, something pushed into her right side, possibly a steering wheel, there was something about her school, there were emotional words spoken at the scene by someone that looked at the people in the car, before they were removed, there was someone that knew her there before her family arrived, and so on. 

Then she wrote the actual details and sent them to me. I was speechless. Maria read both my insights and her details, then commented “All I can say is Holy Smoke! And as for you…right on”

I was playing with something deadly serious, an accident caused by another driver, in a car with no brakes, running a stop sign. Teddy was the passenger who took the brunt of the impact. The pressure on her side was from both cars that had been crushed so badly that they landed in her lap, first the dashboard of her car, with the other driver’s car atop of that. In her words, she “took out the windshield” with her face. She knew one of the first responders from school, but it was the other driver that looked at them crushed in the car and spoke at the scene. They took her to UCLA, the hospital associated with her school. Her fiancé, far less injured, was driving. She remained conscious through much of the ordeal.

No one expected her to make it. They let her lay on a gurney while handling other cases that they knew would make it, a kid with a snake bite for one. When they called her mom, they asked for photos so they could reconstruct her daughter’s face. There were many injuries. They opted not to amputate her leg that night and then again later when infection set in. They didn’t even realize the other leg was broken because they were so busy trying to put together the worst of the two.

This happened on August 27th in 1967, just after her 21st birthday. Her mother became her nursemaid and she recovered. She went on to sing and dance and entertain for many years. The first time I saw her, I said “I don’t see any scars”. She said “They are there. I know where they are. So, I can see them.”

Some people who face the greatest challenges become those who appreciate life the most. Teddy is one of those people. She has begun the writing of her life’s story. There are many more details about this one event that I will leave to her to reveal. I am honored by her friendship.

Driving home tonight, I passed cars, buildings, animals and such, along streets lit by occasional street lights. Could I name what I passed, an hour or a year from now? Yet vivid visions of someone else’s accident a half century ago appeared when I called to them. Whatever we know, we know for a reason and I am searching for ways to understand it all. I am grateful for Teddy and her willingness to join in this exploration.

And to you for listening,

Loraine  

Friday, September 19, 2014

2/2/14 RMB Your Experiences



2/2/14 RMB Your Experiences


Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Today the Examiner.com posted a Rita Mae Brown article at http://www.examiner.com/article/rita-mae-brown-feminist-and-political-activist. I liked this article. It contains my favorite RMB photo. One beef I have with it is that it notes “accomplishments” as being 37 books. I count 53 with one more due in 2015. Of course they could have been excluding out of print books or the non-fiction books.

Here is an excerpt:
Rita Mae Brown went on to say in the interview that she is not sorry about her struggles in the 70s championing gays and lesbians recognition and rights. She was up for the fight and those experiences made the person she is today.

I would like to add that those experiences, your experiences, they also helped shape the person I am today, indeed who we all are. Each and every one of us affects one another, some more so than others.

Thank you,

Loraine