Sometimes life throws you lemons so you make lemonade. And sometimes that lemonade is so sweet, so refreshing, so perfectly tangy that you suck in your cheeks and draw back your tongue. Nobody ever stops drinking the pulpy sweetness, you always go back for another sip. That is what Girlfriend Weekend is for me. And just as lemonade is the perfect relief from the blistering heat of summer, GFW is the slow-sippin', soul warming hot pink concoction of a usually gray January.
When I tell my non-PWQ (Pulpwood Queen) friends that I am spending the weekend at a book event, they usually smirk and say, "Yeah, have fun at that...book thing." I smile my Southern smile, the one that hides my thoughts, and reply, "Yes I will. Maybe you can come next year." They just don't know. "Bless your heart," doesn't even work in that situation. They really just don't know.
Girlfriend weekend, the brainchild of Kathy Patrick, is the estrogen laden highlight of my year. Tucked away in the Spanish moss and pine trees of Jefferson, Texas, this trip is more like a family reunion than a book conference. A room full of women who all love books. Authors, budding and some in full bloom, eagerly wait to show off the petals of hard work, soul searching, and hours of solitude. Among this room full of women, peppered with a few men, tears are choked back, jaws drop, and bosoms heavy with the weight of womanly responsibility unload their burdens with soul purging laughter. It's beautiful.
And it was at this event, in 2004, where I realized my dream. I didn't know it was my dream at the time, which is less coincidental and more like a testament to God's perfect timing and unraveling of His intricate plan for my life. At this event, six years ago, I knew I wanted to write. I want to be an author at Girlfriend Weekend. I want share my stories and bare my soul. I want to bring a wave of laughter to a quiet room and then bring tears out of those same smiling eyes. I want. But I'm waiting. I'm writing. I'm doing my part and praying that this is also what God wants. Time will tell.
The QUEEN BEE, Kathy Patrick
My new soul sista, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, aka Queen Ester, from www.allthingssouthern.com and my dorky real sister, the QUEEN...Le Tricia Wilbanks
Mom and her adopted son, Michael Morris author of "A Place Called Wiregrass,"
"Slow Way Home" and "Live Like You Are Dying"
Rocking out with Maa-shulllRobin, Mary Ann, Marshall, Mom and me
Authors and Educators, Bernie Schein, me and Pat Conroymy new mission is to read every one of PC's books!!
Helen Simonson, author of "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand"
