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Rebecca :
The title story of your little book is about an auto accident in which your son was involved. What gave you the idea to compile a book of these stories from your life?
Lynn :
The initial story in the book was the first story that came to me. It’s about the time our teenage son & a friend drove the car right onto a schoolyard playground covered with deep snow. The car got stuck nose-down in a snowdrift & they had to call me & then a tow truck for help. I was furious when I heard his lame excuse: “I thought there was a road there, Mom!” Later, it struck me that most of us at one time or another, think there is a road somewhere for us which may turn out to be a wrong road & we also may get “stuck.” So I thought this premise made a good title & beginning story as well as a related epilogue at the end of the book. This & other true family “adventures” ended up in the book.
At my workplace, sometimes we are asked to give devotions during morning devotional & break time. So when I was asked to do devotions once in a while, happenings like these kept popping into my head & I used them to relate to faith in God, because I had no idea how to give a devotion.
My co-workers seemed to like these & I ended up with a collection on my home computer. Several persons kept urging me to write a book. First I laughed! Then I thought, “Why not?” As I have always wanted to write a book anyway since I was 8 years old but never knew what kind of book I would write, I decided this was the time...so I finally did!
My heritage, however, is part Norwegian & part Bohemian...so the shy Norwegian part was screaming: “What on earth are you doing...drawing attention to yourself?” while the Bohemian part was urging me on to be adventurous & forge ahead! I am glad I listed to my Bohemian voice!
Rebecca :
Who are your favorite authors?
Lynn :
Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, Ann Faddiman of The Spirit Catches
You & You Fall Down & and James B. Stewart's Blind Eye. I usually go by the story, not the author. I like non-fiction better & rarely read fiction.
Rebecca :
In each of your stories you ponder on how God teaches us to consider adversity. Tell us about your vision of God.
Lynn :
We all clash head-on into adversity of one kind or another at different times in our lives. I will admit I don't like adversity at all (or as I tend to call it in my Midwestern Sharks story...the soil & grime of life). I have found that despite my intense dislike of it, it is adversity that teaches us most about people & the world. Kind of like the rough horse ride I took in the story The Ride of My Life or the wrestling match in The Struggle.
God gives us all we need to deal with this, but we rarely think it is enough. He doesn't even charge for His help & asks very little in return. He gave the utmost sacrifice for us & we are a tough audience. He is good, kind, all-knowing, loving, understanding, rescuing, accessible & approachable at all times...& must have the most enormous amount of patience...to put up with us human beings. He is like “the old guy connection” in the Midwestern Sharks story.
My vision of God is mostly reflected in the simple endings of all the stories in this book.
Rebecca :
In My Mother, God, and President Truman you write about a common misconception we children of aging parents make. Would you expand on that for our Readers?
Lynn :
When we are young we don't think our parents know much about anything. When we become middle-aged we realize that maybe they did know a few things after all; but the worst time is when they get aged & ill. That is when we end up as caregivers to our own parents. We then assume, because they are “old” as well as “ill,” that once again they do not know anything. We forget that they have not “lost it all” & still can show us up at times.
This story is about when I was forced to place my own mother into a nursing home after she had severe kidney disease & several strokes. I tell about the stinging anger in both of us & how the experience proved to me that even though I was a professional nurse, I still had so much to learn.
My mother & I both turned into different people because of this stressful experience & I blamed God Himself for all of this. My mother, even in her confusion & lost memory finally called me a “smart alec.” (& I felt certain that God was nodding his head in agreement.) I was dumb enough to assume that because she had short-term memory, whatever she told me probably was not reality. However, she taught me by this experience that many times, the problem was with me, not her! I tried to be the “know it all.” & as President Truman used to say, “It’s what you know, after you know it all, that counts!”
Rebecca :
Are you a computer writer & when do these stories come to you?
Lynn :
Yes, I write on the computer. If I had had to use a typewriter, I would have never written a book(I nearly flunked Typing 101.) The stories come to me at many different times about seemingly strange subjects. Sometimes when I hear about my grandchildren's adventures as in To Be or Not To Be a Sheep. Other times when I remember things...like my dad's bus parked in front of our house as in the story A Shiny Secret Place or my inevitable encounters with ducks, as in the story Ducks, Ducks, Everywhere. The stories pop into my head when I am driving, watching TV or gardening as well as when I am trying to fall asleep.
I have now learned to always have a pencil & paper handy to write the ideas down before they flitter out of my head. One time I actually wrote a whole story in my head as I was falling asleep. It was so vivid that I thought I had really written it down. However, I did not & could not find it anywhere. It was really difficult to try to re-create it & put in on my computer. It just was never the same or as good as it was in my head the night before. (I also have been known to get an idea in the middle of the night & too tired to get out of bed, I call my office voice-mail & leave a message for myself to write the idea down!) Many times, I think of a title or one line first & then the story develops from that & builds around that title idea or one line.
Rebecca :
I loved Taking It From the Top...Like “Tigger” -- what did your faithful & funny hound teach you?
Lynn :
That a $5 mongrel dog could be such a great gift! To discover extraordinary things in each ordinary day. To enjoy life, especially the simple things as well as be adventurous. He even took a serious illness in stride & never let it get him down. To accept life as it is & not waste a moment; & especially to climb to the top of whatever & wherever you can reach to get a good view & watch the world.
Rebecca :
What is the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society to which a portion
of your book's proceeds will be donated?
Lynn :
It is the nation's largest not-for-profit provider of senior healthcare & retirement living services. We operate 240 long term care centers in 29 states & provide not only physical needs, but emotional, psychological & spiritual needs as well. The Society started in 1922 & its primary goal has always been, in the words of the founder, “to take care of the whole person, body and soul.”
To me the Society has been the most enjoyable, rewarding place I have ever been employed & I have worked for several organizations in the past. I work as a Nurse/Writer & Project Consultant & have always been eager & anxious to go to work each & every day. (I even miss it while I am on vacation...is that sick or what!)
It is a blessing & a privilege to work for such an organization. There was never any question as to where I would choose to donate the proceeds from this book. Had I not been employed there, this book would never have been created & I will be forever be grateful for the opportunity. I am proud to be counted as a member of this organization whose motto is “Everyone is Someone.”
Rebecca :
Would you tell us about the Messages I Did Not Want to Get?
Lynn :
When you have kids, especially teenagers, you usually end up getting a lot of messages (like on little ripped bits of paper lying on the kitchen table or on the answering machine) because they are always “flitting around with their friends” & not talking or explaining much to you as their parents.
These messages are like “panic signals” for parents. You have to wait to get “the rest of the story.” They usually leave out much of the important information which you want or need to know...like where they are, what happened to the car & when they expect to show up at home. As I thought about all the “not-very-darned-understandable” messages we used to get from them, it led to me write this story.
Rebecca :
Dear Lynn, thank you for sharing these gently humorous stories & inspirational thoughts with us. What are you writing about now?
Lynn :
I am working on short story about a struggling movie actor, another book of stories about “Hope” and a book about what small children teach us. Even though all of our sons are over 30 now, little do they know that they are still providing me with material for more stories. That will never end!
Rebecca :
Do catch my review of Lynn Assimacopoulous' I Thought there was a Road There... - it is a lovely, satisfying read!
Rebecca Brown
(Published September 30, 2001)
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RebeccasiReads.com
