Time Flies and Other Pithy Comments

When I was in high school in the 1950s and considered that the millennium would change in some fifty years, I honestly wondered if I’d be around to see it. I think the average age expectancy at that time was mid-sixties for men, around seventy for women, so that isn’t as far-fetched as it might sound these days, with more and more of us living into our eighties and nineties.

I’m glad I’m still around, though I’m also surprised I’m still here and about to turn eighty-two. The second decade of the 2000s was pretty eventful for me. In 2013, after a full lifetime as a musician, I wrote and published my first book. Six years later I’m at work on book number eleven.

Thanks to Katy Burton for the beautiful poster

 My voice studio, which I opened in 1979, is flourishing, and I’m thrilled that after forty years I can continue to help young men and women unlock their voices. Some of my students have made music their life’s profession. One former student has been with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus for twenty years, and another has been singing with the Deutsche Oper Berlin for five years and is now appearing as a guest in other major opera houses in Europe. One had a stint on Broadway. Others have established themselves as teachers, either in schools or with private studios; performed in regional theaters and on national tours. Hopefully, all of them continue to sing, maybe in community musicals, a church choir, or blowing people away at karaoke!

For over thirty years, beginning in 1984, I was stage director for eighty musical theater productions for both community groups—most notably, Pocono Lively Arts—and two different high schools (at different times). I retired from directing in 2015. I wrote a book about that in 2016: “More Fog, Please”: Thirty Years Directing Community and High School Musicals. For a few weeks, it was listed as a “hot new item” and was an Amazon best-seller in its genre. (I held a book launch party at the local Panera Bread.)

Musical theater friends Michael Drolet, Kelly Foley, Dale Foley

In 2017 I released two novels set in the Vietnam War era, “The Cameron Saga”—books that followed the lives of two brothers who served in the war and struggled to deal with its effect on their lives and the lives of those who loved them. The first book, Memories of Jake, was submitted to the Wishing Shelf Book Awards, and it received a Red Ribbon Honorable Mention, much to my delight. The best part of writing those books, though, was connecting with Vietnam veterans and helping establish an annual observation of National Vietnam Veterans Day at a local, independent movie theater. I’ve made some remarkable new friends.

Exterior and Interior of the wonderful
Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center
where we hold our Vietnam Veterans Day Event

  In 2018, I released the first novel in a mystery series entitled The Case of the Slain Soprano. I’m currently at work on book #5 in “The Augusta McKee Mystery Series” and having a great time writing it. The Case of the Slain Soprano won a Finalist Award with the Wishing Shelf Awards and a Semi-Finalist for the Kindle Book Awards.

I was honored and thrilled by these awards. I found them validating and encouraging. My books aren’t for everybody: they all contain music, even the mystery series. Many of my characters are musicians, and music is a vital part of their lives. I like writing about music, and I’ve had many nice reviews which comment on the way I write about it: the emotions experienced by my characters as performers and listeners.

A couple of pretty exciting experiences for this indie author in 2019: I had an article published by The Guardian, and I was featured on the Third Hour of the “Today Show” over the summer. Both of these as a recognition that at the age of seventy-five I had begun to write and I’m still at it! I will say, though, that every time I start a new book I wonder if I’ll finish it. At my age, how could I not wonder that? But I’ll keep writing as long as my eyes, my fingers (I use the computer for everything) and my mind hold up.

How about that? Front page, above the fold.

We’re about to enter the third decade of the millennium that I at one time doubted I’d ever see. I guess I should try to say something pithy and meaningful at this point. How about this, a quote from the great Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

Wishing you all the best for the coming year. Peace, hope, and love.

Please check out my author page on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Moore-Jordan/e/B00IBZ731U/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

or visit my website, which has links to purchase all the books. The novels are also available as e-books.

http://www.susanmoorejordan.com/

Two Things That Make a Difference

Passion and Humor

Recently, a young writer who has become a Facebook friend sent me an article about centenarians and to what they attributed their longevity. It was entertaining to read contradictory advice, such as: exercise faithfully; never exercise. Eat healthy, eat what you like. But as I stare seventy-eight in the face,  two of the items struck me that ring true: 1) find something you are passionate about and pursue it and 2) don’t stop laughing, especially at yourself.

I know I’m blessed with better health than many of my contemporaries, and I am thankful for that. However, I have to admit over the past couple of years I’ve been slowing down despite my best efforts. Being passionate about something has been the story of my life … first ballet, then opera, then musical theater. All of these require strength and agility. You'd be surprised how much energy it takes to direct a musical!

It makes me happier than I can say to have found this new passion for writing. In some ways, it is the most satisfying experience I’ve ever had – I’m creating, for the first time in my life. For me, it is a perfect time to have discovered how much I love to write. I have the time to devote to it. I’m lucky to have nimble fingers and an active mind and an overactive imagination!

I had lunch recently with a fellow writer and new friend who is a few years younger than I am. We spent over two hours talking about writing, and when we parted she made the comment: “You know, we’re really the same as we’ve always been, at least inside.” And she is right. Having a passion in your life keeps you young. You continue to look at life with wonder. You continue to learn and grow. You see possibilities and paths to pursue. (Notice what I did there? Who says alliteration is always bad?!)

We read often, “laughter is good for the soul,” and I agree completely. I think we grow up the first time we are able to laugh at ourselves: when we can look at ourselves honestly, and realize who we really are and accept and love that person, foibles and all. It’s vital to being able to deal with the passage of time. We have no control over that, but we can control how we look at the inevitability of growing older.

I have three longtime friends with whom I meet regularly for lunch. We’ve shared a great deal over many years, and our meals together are filled with laughter. I value these women; they are people to be treasured. We share a history … not just of things we have done together, but from watching the world around us change.

Here's some advice from this not yet centenarian: pursue your passion. Laugh a lot, especially at yourself. And listen to beautiful music whenever you have a chance … it is the best the universe offers us.

Now excuse me, because I have this book I’m working on and an inspiration just struck me …

The author in earlier times.

Please visit my website: www.susanmoorejordan.com

Time Marches On

No More Birthday “Celebrations”

     Birthdays I remember fondly: Sixteen. Eighteen. Twenty-one. Twenty-five. Forty. No doubt you’ll notice I skipped Thirty, because I didn’t like that one. It was proof that I was Past My Youth. But Forty was great! I was finally a Real Grown-Up. I’ve tried to ignore Milestone Birthdays past Forty. They started to be what they all are, really, the inevitability of approaching Old Age. Which is where I am firmly ensconced now, and which is why I’ve decided to no longer celebrate my birthday. Oh, I have no choice but to acknowledge they take place, but I don’t intend to celebrate them. Lunch with good friends so we can commiserate. And we will.

     I love Facebook. I joined in 2008 when I realized what a great tool social media is in spreading the word about an upcoming event. Setting up an event page and spreading the word has become the modern day equivalent of that old word-of-mouth tool, “the grapevine,” as in “I heard by the grapevine.” I’m sure if you use social media to your best advantage, you reach many more people than you do through newspaper advertising. And unless you have gobs of money, who can afford to advertise on television?

     Since I had to set up an account, I included my birthday. Notice I did not say my “birthdate,” because I kept the year private. I was already old and didn’t really feel a need to broadcast that fact. So on my first Facebook birthday, it was fun to get greetings from lots of people I seldom heard from otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Facebook. I’ve reconnected with people from my past and it’s been great to catch up with them. One is a woman I attended junior high school with and we’ve developed an entirely new and rewarding friendship. We’re on different coasts but email makes it possible for us to stay in close touch.

     I’m definitely glad I’ve lived to enjoy the benefits of technology. I love my smart phone which I had resisted getting until about a year and a half ago. I wonder how we managed back in the olden days without this stuff. If I’d had a cellphone when I was in high school, my entire life might have been different. Or maybe not. It’s been a darned good one, in any event.

     And without a computer I seriously doubt I would have begun to write. Three books in less than two years has been a wonderful surprise at this stage in my life, and writing this blog is immensely enjoyable. I’ve always liked to write. I think I’m beginning to learn how to do it. It’s fun, but it’s also challenging. Thankfully, no arthritis. At least, not yet. You never know when one of those benefits of aging is apt to jump up and bite you.

     Back to that “celebrating your birthday” thing. A couple of years ago I was given a royal treat by one of my wonderful children, a town car and driver into New York City, a meal at a great restaurant in Little Italy and two tickets to “Wicked.” I figured that was the capper on my birthday celebrations and I had a great time. But let’s face it. Have you ever heard anyone say, “Oh, I’m so excited to be fifty!” Or “I can’t wait to be sixty-five so I can start drawing social security!”

     I think it was Bette Davis who said, “Old age ain’t for sissies.” Boy, was she ever right. I know I am very fortunate to have enjoyed good health way past that sixty-five mark and I appreciate that I still have my mental faculties (I think), and am able to take care of myself fairly well. Some things I can’t do physically are things I have never been able to do physically because I am neither tall nor strong, but I never was. I can still drive. My vision is decent and my reflexes are still good.

     But I notice that more and more television commercials (when I watch commercial TV ─ I mainly watch old movies on TCM) are for medications for primarily people for whom “the aging process” has created various problems. Another trend is for “retirement communities” and “assisted living facilities.” When I was young (back in the early days of television) we never saw this kind of commercial. I have to say it makes me wonder if the aging population of this country has become a source for big business? Just saying.

     I continue to work with teenagers as a high school musical theater director. It keeps me on my toes and helps keep those mental faculties pretty sharp. The kids must know I’m nearly as old as God but they are sweet to me anyway. I like to see them succeed. I do everything I can to help them succeed. Maybe that’s why I’m still kicking, because I think I have something to offer them. I see them on the threshold of life and would never, ever discourage them from looking forward with oceans of hope. I remember that feeling.

     Back to Facebook (us elderly folks’ minds tend to wander), this year I made my birthday information private. The people who I’m close to may continue to acknowledge my birthday, but it’s okay if they don’t. Someone somewhere wrote something (sorry, I’m old so sometimes I forget specifics, though I vividly remember my sixteenth birthday … a quiet family celebration, that’s the way we did it back then) … anyway, something like “pick an age you like and stick with it.” Maybe George Carlin? He had great thoughts on this aging thing.

     I’ve decided forty-two was a good year. That’s just between us; birthday wishes not necessary. Excuse me, I need to check and see how many Twitter followers I have today.