“I don’t know why you
want to go to college.”
I was eighteen, driving
to campus for freshman orientation when my mother said this to me. I don’t
remember what I said to her, but I remember what I wanted to say. Because I don’t want to be you.
College was my version
of burning my bra. The youngest of three and the only girl, I’d grown up doing
household chores while my brothers went about their lives. In hindsight, I
suspect my mother harbored some jealousy in my regards. I was determined to
make my way in the world, something she’d never had the opportunity to do. Her
life consisted of cooking three meals a day and cleaning up after three kids
and a husband with grease beneath his fingernails.
At the time, the
closest thing I had to a sister—a cousin two months older than me—was married
with a baby. In my mother’s eyes, I had some catching up to do.
I had no intention of
catching up or being caught.
I got caught. Married
before finishing my degree, moving across country with a toddler and another
soon to arrive, my education ended one semester short of a degree.
There are times I wish
I’d finished, but then I look at what I’ve accomplished and that’s one piece of
paper I can do without. I married a man who has never tried to hold me back.
Over the years, he has encouraged me many times to finish what I started, but
for me, I had started something more important—the raising of my heroes.
My path is not for
everyone, and there are those who would argue that I ended up doing exactly
what my mother wanted me to do. That’s partially true, but I took on the role
of mother, homemaker and wife because I wanted to, not because I had to. That’s
the difference.
Over forty years since
our first date, I’m still married to my best friend. We have two lovely
daughters who are my heroes.
I raised our girls to
be strong and independent. I wanted them to have every opportunity to be the
person they wanted to be. I wanted them to have more than one path to choose
from. And the best way to do that was to offer them a quality education. Which
brings me to the reason for this post.
A few days ago, while
most of the students were in class, the interim president of
Sweet BriarCollege announced that due to insurmountable financial difficulties, the 114
year-old women’s liberal arts school will close its doors this year. Students,
faculty, and alumnae were shocked.
Almost immediately, the
Sweet Briar community came together in an effort to save the college that has
graduated over 20,000 young women. Yes, small potatoes in terms of numbers, but
there is nothing small about a Sweet Briar graduate. I know, because one of
them is mine.
My youngest received
her undergraduate degree from Sweet Briar College, her Master’s in Criminal
Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, and
graduated from the South Carolina Police Academy.
 |
| "She was a vixen when she went to school; And though she be but little, she is fierce." Shakespeare |
At 5’1”, she carries a gun.
Her favorite color is pink. She’s quick to smile, but never backs down from a
challenge.
I encourage you to
educate yourself on this small but relevant school.
See media coverage here. I’ve seen first-hand the
value of this kind of education. Sweet Briar is in the business of empowering
women, and they do an exceptional job.
In an effort to assist
the fundraising efforts designed to keep the school open long enough for a
long-range solution to their financial difficulties, I am pledging all proceeds from the sale of Lost Melody from now until May 31st,
to the savesweetbriar.com campaign.
This is not one of my
bestselling novels, but it is the one closest to my heart, and one that
probably wouldn’t exist if my daughter had not attended Sweet Briar College.
Let me explain.
We’d just moved to the
east coast from southern California. Sarah was in her second semester at Sweet
Briar. Her car had just arrived via a car-carrier service, and I set out to
deliver it to her. Her old Taurus had little to recommend it other than
comfortable leather seats and a kick-ass stereo, which I took shameless
advantage of. Yes, that was me, bass thumping down the highway, singing along
at the top of my lungs, drumming on the steering wheel like I was seventeen
again. It was a six-hour drive! What else was I supposed to do?
I’d been attempting to
write a book for a while so when the first kernel of a story about a drummer
and a woman with a secret popped into my mind, I ran with it. By the time I
arrived at Sweet Briar, the story was in my head. All I had to do was write it.
Yeah, right.
Shelved several times
in the intervening years, Lost Melody
went through at least a half-dozen rewrites before I was happy with the manuscript.
All this is laid out in the Acknowledgements in the front of the book. The
birth of the idea is not the only link the book has to Sweet Briar. The
heroine, Melody Harper Ravenswood, is a graduate of Sweet Briar College. Here’s
that bit of her backstory:
She had been running away from the
guilt then. Sweet Briar College had been a perfect place for her to hide. The
beautiful, sprawling campus at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains was quiet
and easily missed unless one knew it was there.
Sweet Briar was what Melody
needed in her life, a place to be herself, a place to learn, grow, and
discover. Like many other Sweet Briar graduates, she left there with the
education and determination to make her way in the world.
Lost
Melody is the most critically acclaimed of all my writings. As an
unpublished manuscript, it won the Melody of Love contest and placed in the
Golden Claddaugh Contest. As a published novel, it received a HOLT Medallion
Award of Merit, was a finalist for the Book Sellers Best Award, and the
Reader’s Choice award.
Here’s
the blurb:
Out of sight,
out of mind. That’s what Melody Ravenswood was counting on when she invented a
new life for herself as Mel Harper in the small farming community of
Willowbrook, Texas. She could be herself, whoever that was. Having long since
lost her identity to being the only child and sole beneficiary of a legendary
rock and roller, she was finally going to live the normal life she craved – a
job, a house, friends and no paparazzi.
Hank Travis is
the last thing Mel needs in her new life. The local boy turned rock and roll
star’s sexy, won’t take no for an answer pursuit makes her long for a life she
has only dreamed of. Before Mel can have the future she wants with Hank, she
must confront her past and find the Melody she lost along the way.
Again, ALL
PROCEEDS from the sale of Lost Melody
for the months of March, April and May, 2015 will be donated to the Save Sweet
Briar campaign. The eBook is only $3.99. The print version is $12. If you would
rather contribute more to the cause, please visit the pledge site, SavingSweetBriar, to do so.
Get your copy of Lost Melody
from one of these retailers:
Available in Print from:
