GOODBYE FOR NOW
Dear Friends, This will be my last regular blog post for a while because I’m stepping away to work on my memoir. Writing a blog and a memoir require different writing muscles and voices, and I can’t do both at the same time. This hasn’t been an easy decision. In fact I’ve put it off for several months, but the time has come.
Did you know you are the ones who’ve encouraged me to write my story?
Over the years many of you have asked how I’ve survived the things life has put in my path and how I’ve managed to remain so strong and upbeat? It’s been a conscious decision, not by faking it, but by doing the necessary work on myself to recuperate from whatever took me down. It’s not always been easy, but I realized to do otherwise was not in my best interest.
My friend and former 1010ParkPlace blogger, Esther Zimmer, once left a comment on one of my blogs that was more perceptive than she could have known: “If these are the things you’re willing to share with us, what are the things you’re not telling us?” The answer, dear Essie, is a lot!
I’ve always contemplated writing a book, but for a long time I thought it would be about my first husband. A brilliant man who was revered and admired and whose life — and my life as well — took a turn no one could have predicted. A turn, until now, I’ve kept secret. And then there was my being taken… I now realize it is my story, the choices I made and that I’ve survived it. All of it.
“It was a fairytale until it wasn’t.”
That I went…
“ …from being an overprotected only child with asthma — who wasn’t allowed to take PE or go barefoot — to becoming Ramborella and the last one standing.”
That said, this isn’t totally goodbye. Look for me in your inbox because from time to time I will send things for you to think about and snippets from my memoir. I want to know how each of you are doing, so I hope you’ll let me know with your comments. Just like you know some of my story, I know some of your stories as well, and I will miss hearing from you, my friends.
Lionel Richie, August 2019. Photograph by ©Brenda Coffee
I’ll also send things that might interest you like my visit with Lionel Richie a few months ago. My first husband and I financed some of Lionel’s early concerts with the Commodores. He is a genuinely sweet and charming man. When you’re talking with Lionel he has a way of leaning in and taking both of your hands in his, laser focused on every word you say.
I don’t know how long this book process, revisions and finding an agent will take, so I don’t have a timeline as to when I’ll be back full-time. It also means I won’t be posting anyone else’s blog post so look for Jill Anthony and her “silver-haired girl on the go,” Hildie Plumpepper, on Instagram, Donna O’Klock on her blog, SexyPast60, and Kim Alexis on Instagram. I’m so grateful for their friendship and thank them for being part of 1010ParkPlace.
Thank you for the privilege of writing for you and thank you for reading. I hope in some small way I’ve lifted you up when you’ve needed it because you have done that for me. I love and appreciate you more than you know.
The days are flying past faster and faster, so promise yourself that you’ll make each day count. Draw only good things and people into your life and let go of what doesn’t serve you well. Have confidence in your abilities and step outside your comfort zone. Do things that challenge you along with those things you’ve always wanted to do, and do them with the knowledge God is with you. Until next time…
