Her Mother's Lover
Two young women in their early 20’s figured they would have the rest of their lives to write a book.   We met at the Woodbine caterers and spent most of our time either in the office or behind the bar, talking about art, poetry, literature, and of course, our dreams, hopes, and aspirations. We went out, had a drink (or two) and talked about a plan.  We made a promise to write a novel together. Our words were caught in the web of intention—the universe listened, and our promise was fulfilled, except it was many years later. Time passed and our lives separated us—families and college classes replaced the fun of our single lives. Rachelle became a Professor of English and Humanities at the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology. Tracy raised three children, became a healer, an accomplished poet, and Jill of many trades. After almost 20 years of planning to write together, Tracy sent a letter to Rachelle, reminding her of their promise. We met an Irish restaurant in Philadelphia in 2008 to catch up, and to finally talk writing. By 2009, we came to discover we apparently did have a novel brewing between us. Email after email, our long ago idea became a writer’s reality. We thoroughly embraced the—“I am right!” “No, you are not! We can figure it out.”—policy, leaving us with a bond that grew stronger through each chapter of our novel. We diligently woke up before sunrise and wrote through our weekend mornings. The banter of our friendship molded our journey and encouraged us to continue the creation of Her Mother's Lover.