I am known for my chocolate chip cookies. But I’m not a ‘foodie’.
I grew up in Abington, Pa. Mother and Dad adored each other, me, and my three sisters.
“Your dad talks funny,” my friends noticed. Dad was born and raised in England. We drank hot tea with sugar and milk with our dessert at dinner. “Would we be ready, if invited, to have lunch with the Queen?”
When I turned 19, Wheaton College brought lists of good things along with surprises: wonderful friends, challenging professors, writing and journalism classes with Paul Fromer, Concert Choir, and a new major: Christian Education. I still use every shred of my CE stuff on a daily basis. And me, the girl who never had a boyfriend, fell in love with a brilliant chemistry major, Duane Rommel.
We got married, had two sons and now have two lovely daughter in laws, and four delightful grandchildren: Ethan, Addi, Sophie and Henry. Duane is a Pediatrician.
What do I actually do every day? Eighty percent of every day is taken up with ‘cleaning up clutter and gross stuff.’ – from ‘My Name is Earl.’ That’s reality for everyone.
The remaining twenty percent, and I am starting to count out the remaining minutes, I make stuff. Like cookies. I also paint furniture, take photographs and design our landscape. I connect people in Bible study and church groups, figure out craft activities for kids’ programs and write and edit Bible lessons for kids and adults.
And I write stories. My first attempt, written in 1968, when I was 13, was a ‘graphic novel.’ The term was not used widely then. The title: “Miss Nutshell.” It contains the sentence, on page 2, “Miss Nutshell lived in a nut shell.”
For Mr. Fromer’s sake, I hope I can do better.
