LUCY BURDETTE: I am always snatching bits of reality to fit into my fiction. Sometimes they spin back into my life in ways I
never imagined.
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| photo from Wikipedia |
Did you happen to see a clip of the swimmer Diana Nyad
splash ashore on Smathers Beach in Key West a few years ago? At 64 years old,
she completed the swim from Cuba to Key West—110 miles—on her fifth try. The
first four times she had to turn back because of bad weather, poisonous
jellyfish, and sharks. When she crawled out of the water onto the beach, her
face was so swollen from jellyfish stings her own mother wouldn’t have
recognized her. Here’s what she said to the crowd that had gathered:
“I have three messages for you:
We should #NeverEverGiveUp
You’re #NeverTooOld to chase your dreams
It’s #NeverASolitarySport … it’s a team!”
When I wanted my main character Hayley Snow’s mother to have
a bigger role in my series, I immediately thought of Diana. What if Janet Snow
admired her daughter’s tenacity as she went about figuring out how to do what
she loved, and yearned to do the same in her own life? Wouldn’t Diana Nyad be a
perfect role model? And so when Janet explains her decision to open a catering
business in Key West to her daughter Hayley, she invokes Diana.**
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| photo by Bill Carito |
Fast forward to this past December, when my sister gave a
talk at the Key West library about her trip to Standing Rock. After the
presentation, a woman approached and invited her to be a guest of honor at the
International Women’s Flag Football event, sponsored by Kelly McGillis, and
headlined by Diana Nyad. My sister wasn’t able to make the date in January so she
suggested I might be invited.
And so I was booked to give a talk, and walk in
the parade following the opening ceremony. (A parade!) I worked on a very short
version of my “inspirational talk,” featuring some wisdom from psychologists
about goal-setting, and examples from my career about persistence and getting
knock flat but scrambling up to face the next hurdle. And then I got excited
about meeting Diana. (Naturally, I planned to bring her a signed copy of the
book in which she appeared.) And I worried about whether I had the nerve to be
a parade celebrity.
The day before event day, I texted my host, Diane, and told
her I didn't need to be in the parade.
"But we had a banner made for you!"
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| photo by Bill Carito |
Okay. I convinced my husband and three friends to go to the venue with me, a drag bar, this being Key West. (Thanks Bill and Barb and Steve and John!) Instead of the young to middle-aged women I was expecting in the audience, the open area around the bar was crammed with squirming girls. With only minutes to spare, I adjusted my talk the best I could to suit the attention spans of 10-year-old girls, who were most anxious to perform in the team dance contest which was to follow. I finished, the girls danced, and Diana was ushered in from the airport.
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| Lucy with Diana |
Her fabulous and inspiring talk could be summed up with the same three points
she made when she came out of the water. She reminded the girls in the audience
that while there are stars out on the field, behind every star is a team.
She
mentioned that when she turned 60, she felt a jolt, realizing how much of her
life had gone by. And she remembered something a friend told her as she was
preparing to race in an Olympic swimming trial: As long as you don't leave one
fingernail of effort out in the pool, you will be happy with the results.
What did I learn from this? Take a good look at what you’re
doing in your life and ask yourself: Is this is the way I want to spend the
rest of my years and my talents? If not, fix it!
And, if you’re asked to be in a parade, go for it!
Who is your role model and what have you learned from them?
**Hayley Snow in DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS:
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| Lucy explains the book to Diana |
I am crazy about my mother, honest. But it had still been a
shock when she announced she’d rented a place in Key West for the winter
season. Wouldn’t it be so much fun to spend Christmas in paradise together? And
New Year’s...and Martin Luther King day...and Valentine’s Day...you get the
picture. Mom had followed Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim from Cuba to Key West
with rapt attention. When Diana overcame sharks, jellyfish, rough water, and advancing
age to complete her 110 mile swim on her fifth try, at age 64, Mom took it
personally.
“Diana says
we should never give up,” she announced on the phone a couple of months ago. “Why not be bold, be fiercely bold and go out
and chase your dreams?”
Mom had
been a little down since the summer because her fledgling catering company had
not taken off the way she’d hoped. She was an amazing and inventive cook, but
the business part of owning a business eluded her. For her first five catering
events, cooking with only the highest quality ingredients, she’d lost money
rather than making it. A lot of money. Even her new boyfriend, Sam, who was
supportive beyond any reasonable expectation, had suggested she take a few
steps back and reconsider her plan.
“Why not?
You should go for your dream too,” I remember saying. “That’s exactly what you
told me when I lost my bearings: Keep putting yourself out in the universe and
eventually the wind will fill your sails.” I stopped myself from trotting out
more metaphysical homilies--I hadn’t wanted to hear too much advice when I was
feeling down; Mom probably didn’t either. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’m
thinking of coming to Key West for the winter!”
Whoa. If
that was her dream, who was I to stop her? But my big solo adventure was about
to turn into How I Met Your Mother.
