I'll take fiction

In "Guam Adventures - Mystery of the Cave",  Jo and Susan  are almost constantly together; sitting next to each other on the plane flying the Wilks family to Guam, taking their first tentative steps into the jungle with their Mom and little sister, Graci, being dive-bombed by bats in the cave at Tarague Beach  with their friends Mike and  Ryan Mulligan.

Lynda and I were similarly together much of the time when we were kids.  Was it because we just loved hanging out together and didn't have any friends of our own?  Of course not. The two of us shared a room most of our lives, fought over everything under the sun, as siblings do.  As young women we married military men and lived apart for way too many years to calculate.  When both of us moved to Indiana, it was with joy that we began spending as much time together as possible ... because we wanted to.

Jo and Susan, altough created from the essence of our lives, are fictional sisters. However, we wanted to create our story around the two girls and didn't want to lose our readers by adding too many characters.  The same holds true in the 2nd book in our series, "Guam Adventures - The Darkened Light". 

Our fans might ask, "when is 'The Darkened Light' going to be available?"  Hmm, that's a good question.  We have made an extra large dent in the new story.  In fact I wrote a new chapter last week. Hang in there.  We will finish it.  This year?  Maybe.  We hope so...

Last October when Lynda came out to visit, we had our book launch for "Mystery of the Cave" at Davis-Monthan AFB.  We did a book signing and talked to some interesting people, including some Vets who had served our country well.  It was a priviledge for us to listen to their stories.

Lynda headed back to Indiana after spending 3 weeks with Dave and me.  We always love having her here.  A few weeks later, after Lynda went to see her Dr. and was put through some grueling tests, we got the scary news that Lynda has cancer.  Heck, I knew she was having some issues, but did NOT expect cancer to be the prognosis. 

Now what?  Well, I wish we were Jo and Susan and someone could do a re-write and edit cancer out of our lives, out of Lynda's life.  Alas, life is not a work of fiction.  It is stark reality.

For those of you who are stunned by this news, it is almost unreal to all of us Wilkersons, as well. It's now that I wish I was still in Indiana so I could pop in just to get a look at my sister, maybe sit and chat about politics, Dancing with the Stars, our grandkids, the weather, nail polish, age spots,  getting old, being young, happy times, sad times.

 Lynda is doing well.  She is into her 4th (and hopefully last)  month of chemotherapy.  Some days she is shaky getting out of bed or standing from a chair.  There is the ever-present nausea and constant quest for something she can eat that doesn't taste like metal or dog poo (not that she's ever eaten dog poo, but she can imagine).  With the exception of our brother, Mark, God granted us Wilkersons with approximately 1 quadrillion hairs, so, although she pulls out handfuls every day, Lynda still has enough to brush.  It
may or may not all fall out. I offered to send her some of mine, but she declined. I don't think she'll need it, anyway.  If she does end up bald, what the heck, bald looked good on our Dad, his Dad, Uncle Joe, and brother Mark looks a-okay with his shiny dome.  Besides, it may grow back the strawberry- blonde she would accept as her reward for months of using the lint roller on everything. 

This coming Thursday morning my brother-in-law, Glenn, will send out the first text message of the morning "We're at the hospital.  After the blood test results come back we'll know if Lynda will have chemo today". (Glenn has been a godsend to all of us during this time.  He always keeps us informed and has been a rock for Lynda.) She's been good to go all but one time, which was a couple weeks ago when her red blood cells were in hiding and the white ones were way too small.  So, she got to take a couple weeks off, only to resume with the dreaded "double dose" she's been getting at the beginning of each series of chemo.

I pray for Lynda every day.  Oftentimes I awake during the night and immediately start to pray.  My big Sis is never far from my thoughts.  It is the same for all of us Wilkerson siblings, Lynda's kids, nieces, nephews, friends.  God has been good.

In a couple months we are hopeful Lynda will get the 'all clear' from her Dr and will fly out to Arizona to hang with Dave and me before she has to go back and have surgery.  I'll still go to work every day, but my evenings will be full of talking and laughing and, maybe, some crying with my Sis.  We will write.  We will dig into Jo and Susan's new adventure.  Maybe we'll get lost in the lives of two fictional sisters who resemble us, but whose biggest concern is solving the mystery of "The Darkened Light".


You haven't read "Guam Adventures - Mystery of the Cave", yet?  Holy cow!  Hurry to creatspace.com/4008187.  Get your copy today!!!