The Summer that Was...and Wasn't

It’s been a while since I blogged regularly, but what better day to get back into the swing of things than my first (of three) special days in The Romance Studio’s Year End Splash party? A little bit about me, for those who are stopping by for the first time (Welcome!!) today: I write deeply emotional and satisfying stories with a hint of danger and enough spice to keep you turning the pages. Here on the blog, my posts are a combination of health, healing, wellness, and inspiration. I draw my inspiration from an incredibly supportive group of friends, from church ladies to convicts, two of whom are my friends Louis, who is serving a life sentence in prison, and Marc, who has recently been paroled.

You might call them my muses, as their struggles and stories inspire me daily, and help me to keep things in perspective. My worst day out here can’t even begin to compare with their best day behind bars. I remember times when Louis would call, and I would vent about something or other for probably 14 of the 15 minutes allotted for the phone call, and then days later I would receive a letter telling me someone he knew had been stabbed that day, and suddenly I would feel so small.

He had called for well, I wouldn’t say comfort, because that’s not Louis’s style—he’s a tough guy through and through—but perhaps to hear a voice of sanity in the middle of a truly insane place. And what did I do? Rant about some dumb stuff I don’t even remember. But you can believe Louis will remember that day, or any day someone was life-flighted out of the complex due to a sudden eruption of violence.

Things can happen extremely fast in prison, as we found out last May, when Louis was suddenly spirited away to another facility several hours away. It just went to show that when they want to move you, they can do so at the speed of light. (And when they don’t, they can move slower than molasses, as they demonstrated a few years ago when he spent nine months in isolation, awaiting a transfer.) One day he was as happy as a clam, starting his new job out in the yard and looking forward to enjoying his summer, the next he was the only non-capital case inmate on Death Row. Just like that.

Yep. The DOC can keep any inmate in isolation for as long as they want to, and even on Death Row, which was where Louis spent 6 weeks of his summer--while I was out having my best summer in recent memory.

Talk about polar opposites. Like the night I was at the U2 Concert in Pittsburgh, singing my fool head off along with 60,000 other fans, it seemed almost surreal that Louis was less than 45 minutes away, in solitary confinement, for no reason any sane person could discern.

He spent the summer filing appeals. I spent the summer going to parties and concerts.

112 days later, he was returned to the facility he had been spirited away from almost four months earlier, but by then his summer was over.

It was like he slipped into a worm hole, or a time portal, and then suddenly months later he popped out again, and not a word was said. It was like it didn’t even happen. He’s now back at his original facility, has regained his job and re-joined his classes, and in general settled into life in population all over again. But he knows and I know it can all disappear with the swish of a pen or the click of a mouse.

No doubt he always knew that. He’s been living his unpredictable life for over 33 years. Me, I still have blinders on at times. I still expect the world to make sense. But the swiftness with which he literally vanished from my life after ten years of friendship really opened my eyes. Reminded me of how fragile life is, how circumstances, anyone’s circumstances, can change in a heartbeat, and inspired me to get out from behind my computer and live while I still can.

So that’s what I’ve been doing these past months that I haven’t been blogging. I’ve been out having fun. In June, I went on a field trip with my Qigong classmates to Niagara Falls, where we participated in an all day Tai Chi workshop (with an awesome lunch included) overlooking the falls. The 4^th of July was a full weekend of good company, good food and even better music I’ll never forget. My son, who plays guitar, and I got together with some friends who know how to make music, and played classic rock and roll songs well into the night. I had happy bruises on my left palm and right thigh for a week afterward from playing some serious tambourine. Later in July I got to see U2 under the stars. In August I had family come to visit (three times!!), and we spent the bulk of our time playing miniature golf and eating authentic German food and buffalo pot roast. (Those who know me know I’m always on the lookout for a great pot roast.)

In September I boogied to Detroit to see an awesome Alison Krauss concert. In October I traveled back in time for my high school reunion, another never-to-be-forgotten weekend of music, dancing, good food, good friends, and good memories.

And in the midst of all of this…after 9 months of fruitless clicking and maybe a dozen short term conversations on an online dating site…I met someone special in my own back yard.

And so today, as November rolls into year’s end and the snow begins to fly, I’m home making a huge pot of harvest vegetable soup, and count myself blessed to have four special men in my life—my son, who over the summer evolved into a fine young man I am super proud to know; Louis, my friend and muse of over a decade who I’ve been blessed to visit three times since his return from the worm hole and who continues to inspire me daily; Marc, whom I see weekly to help with mundane chores such as laundry and shopping while he continues to search for work and establish a fresh start in life; and my new friend, who now joins me on my road trip adventures and makes sure I continue to take time away from the computer to simply enjoy life.

So, as we tumble into this Year End Splash with The Romance Studio, I wish you good times, good food, good music, and most of all, good friends and family to share it all with. Be sure to answer today’s question number two at The Romance Studio, from my murder mystery romance Ashton’s Secret, which takes place during a summer my heroine, Meghan, will also never forget. You’ll find the answer on my website, in the excerpts section.

Good luck in the contest, and stay safe and warm, wherever you are.