Scotch and soda... jigger of gin!

Well, I'm not really a scotch and soda gal, but I love that song by the Kingston Trio.  Let me go back a bit and take you through this journey of falling in love with that song, the Kingston Trio and other harmonizing groups.  (I also love country by the way.)  Why am I stuck on them these days?  I think it's because of the lyrics - they tell a story.  And the harmonizing is awesome.

Because I do so much driving, I invested in Sirius radio.  It's annoying to find a station that you like only to lose it as you drive out of range, so Sirius it was.  I was driving up to Vermont this weekend and was swtiching back and forth between the 60's and 70's stations when they announced that they had put on a temporary Beach Boys station for a few months.  I turned that on and up and loved it.  .

A weird thing happened... when "The Warmth of the Sun" came on, I thought of one of my characters...  Philip.  He had been left by his girlfriend.  But had he taken it too easily?  Was there a side of him that no one knew existed?  You bet.  LOL, so the Beach Boys helped me to define the darkness hidden in Philip... little did they know.

That's the magic of music.  I've scoured shops and the Internet for CDs of these groups... the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Association, the Four Preps, the Four Freshmen... on and on.  Not sure why it works for me, but it does right now.  But who knows, maybe I'll "Switchback" and choose something else... 50's or 40's or even 80s?

Cheers,
Judi

A journey back.....

Today felt like a continuation of the last blog I wote - Legacy.  I returned to my college chapel for a Memorial Mass for a classmate... we started here years ago and now our journey ends here as well.  Our lives took very different roads... she married her college sweetheart, I didn't.  She moved halfway around the globe, I stayed close to my roots.  She studied one thing, but ended up working in another field.  I followed my passion all the way.

We reconnected off and on through the years... reunions mostly and recently we both were serving on our Alumni Board.   She spoke her mind - there was no doubt about what she was thinking yet was very private in other areas - like her sickness and suffering.  We shared stories of families, friends, and life.  Our work on the Board was a perfect fit and now I'm left to shoulder this area without her opinions.  I will miss my friend and classmate... Judy with a "y" as we used to joke.  I was Judi with an "i".  We signed our emails just that way J(i) or J(y) to the Board.

Life passes so quickly and what's left behind is our legacy - what others carry in their hearts and minds that tell our story.  J(y) has left a full and rich legacy with her family and friends, but also with her service to her community and College.

The chapel bells rang as her name was read and my own College memories swirled around me like the ghosts of the past that they are... days spent with friends (fellow sufferers in Math and Physics), exams studied for and prayed over in this very place (and sometimes cried over), friends made for life like the woman who sat next to me, dances and proms with themes and charms that I still cherish, trips to Bermuda with my girlfriends for College week and all our adventures on that island - now all happily part of my legacy.

That part of my life I can't change and maybe I don't want to because as I said in the last blog, those are things and people who came "in and out of my door" and made me who I am today.  What I can do, is build on that legacy with friends and family and devotion to others.  As we pass through this life, we can't come through unscathed or unhurt.   But can we forgive?  I'll let you answer that.

So my dear J(y), rest easy knowing that your job here on earth is complete... well done my friend, well done.

J(i)

Legacy...

I had written an entirely different blog for today and then a couple of events changed my mind... first an editorial I read yesterday. a visit to the cemetery today, and Mother's Day on Sunday.  

The interesting editorial was in the local newspaper... the writer talked about a legacy.  A friend of his had inadvertently been listed as dead.  People were calling, sending flowers.  His friend said how fascinating it would have been to attend his own funeral... to hear what people would say about him.  The writer admitted that it was something that he had thought about... what would his legacy be?  He believed that we were like a wave that goes out through humanity touching a few or many.  And that our wave continues.  I wonder... my Dad used to say our lives were like putting your hand in water and pulling it out... there are ripples for awhile, but finally the water becomes calm again.  So which is true?

As I visited my Mother's grave today, I thought about his piece... my husband said, "Look how many of these graves are never visited."   And I looked around at the acres and acres of headstones and wondered what their legacies had been?  Is their wave still going, touching people even now, or had the ripple in life that they made, ended.    

I have always believed that we need to say what we feel before it's too late.  How many times have we thought, 'I wish I had told him I loved him.'  Or 'what a great job she had done'... or 'what a wonderful sister or brother they had been'... but we didn't and now it's too late.  I'm going to make that part of my legacy... tell people how I feel, how much they mean to me, what their impact has been on me and my family.  Wouldn't that be wonderful if we could all do that?  What a wave we could create!

One of my favorite old songs has always been by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias - "To All the Girls I've Loved Before..."  Some of the words are so touching and so true...

'To all the girls I've loved before
Who traveled in and out my door
I'm glad they came along
I dedicate this song

To all the girls I've loved before
To all the girls I once caressed
And may I say, I've held the best
For helping me to grow, I owe a lot, I know
To all the girls I've loved before..."

We are all touched, changed by all those who come in and out our 'doors'... I thank them all.  I hope that I have touched them, changed them in some small way as well... they are all part of who I am, my life and my legacy.

Happy Mother's Day to all and hug your children!!  They are and will be a large part of our legacy.

Till, 

Judi

Interview published this week...

Q&A: Judi Getch Brodman publishes mystery novel

Judi Brodman two weeks ago fulfilled a lifelong dream: she published her first-ever novel.

“She’s Not You,” is, as Brodman describes, a mystery with a splash of romance. It follows Jamie Janson as she returns to her family member’s home in Cape Cod, only to be caught up in a whirlwind of murder and intrigue.

Brodman, a software consultant, has previously written several travel articles, as well as a short story and two children’s books: “Fiona - The Lighthouse Firefly,” and “Fiona the Firefly - Lost!” She is also an editor for Wiley’s technical magazine, Journal of Software: Evolution and Process.

Brodman said she first began writing the book 10 years ago and has been working on it on and off since then. The book is currently available for purchase on Amazon.com for $14.99.

Why did you want to become a writer?

I always wrote, I wrote professional pieces that were published in computer science magazines. But when you write technically, it’s passive. There’s no “I” or any feeling in it, you have to wipe all that stuff away and it’s very dry. So I wrote a lot, but I always wanted to write something creative. Then when my sister died, I wrote two children’s books that she had always wanted to write, and that kind of got the juices flowing.

What authors served as your inspiration?

Last winter I took an online course taught by Heidi Jon Schmidt and I love her. I read a book of hers called “The House on Oyster Creek,” and her writing is so beautiful that I felt like I was right there as she told the story. I think she inspired me to write deeper stories and better characters. Some other novelists who inspired me are Nora Roberts and Mary Higgins Clark. I like mystery writers. My husband is a spy novel guy, but that’s not for me.

What kind of reader is this book for?

I think anybody who likes mystery. It has romance in it, but it’s not a smut romance, it’s a nice building romance. So I think it appeals to women. It appealed to my husband, which was surprising, so it’s not a chick book. It has the mystery and the murders, it has a little bit of everything.

What was your biggest challenge?

I don’t know if there was a challenge, really. The challenge probably was trying to publish, because as a new author with no background, most publishers didn’t want to pick me up.

Do you have any other books on the horizon?

I’ve already started a sequel to this and I’ve submitted another novel to my publisher, so I’m hoping that will come out. And I have two other books I’m working on. It’s funny, I started with one and as I was writing it I got to a point where I asked, “where am I going with this?” So I put it away for awhile and I went back to another one I had started, and then I would return to the first one. It just works for me.