I delight in the way God constantly renews us. Saturday, I was invited to a tea party at a lovely home in a beautiful subdivision north of town. It was a celebration for the launch of Jessie, Rebekah Lyn’s brand new book.
We were all invited to wear hats, if we wished, which set the tone for our dress. At the last minute, I grabbed my only skirt – white, cotton, tiered, and put it on with a favorite flowery tee shirt. It turned out to be the right thing to wear – after all, it’s summertime down south.
One friend did wear a hat and it was a vintage number – a work of art – satin apple blossom in pale turquoise on a light frame of ribboned stems and a tiny veil. The dress she wore was beautiful too; in fact, it was such a fine dress that one of her best friends confessed to having one like it in a different color. Fortunately, it was still at home and she was wearing a long linen skirt and a bright gauzy peasant blouse.
Everyone at the tea party was interesting. Rebekah Lyn had known many of them for most of her life. Her mother was there. She’s Onisha Rebekah Lyn’s publicist. Another friend came too. She had been in charge of setting up the party, making sure there were enough china teacups and antique teapots to serve from. She handled many other organizational details and received a public promotion to assistant marketer. About a dozen of us sat at a round table and chatted. It was deliberately old-fashioned and reminded me of my mother, her friends, and their parties.
Rebekah Lyn’s great aunt Joan attended. She volunteers at The Titusville Historical Society and was instrumental in helping Rebekah with research of the history of this area. Jessie starts out in a community that no longer exists. The property became part of the Space Center, so the families who lived there had to move to the mainland.
One of Rebekah’s favorite teachers was at the party. Rebekah calls on her for not only general historical references, but for tricky English questions as well. Everyone paid close attention as Rebekah talked about the writing and publishing of Jessie.
Rebekah Lyn will be at the Sea Turtle Festival in downtown Titusville on June 14 with her books. I’m going down to help her set up, I think Onisha will still be in town, too and her assistant will come by and help, then head up to Jacksonville to visit her sister. As for me, I may look for a ranger I know who is monitoring baby turtles as they hatch. He’s looking for volunteers too and I may know someone who’d like to do just that. Maybe our son and his wife will come. He’s an environmentalist who dearly loves turtles and all other wildlife unless they’re “exotic,” which means they’re taking habitat and food from the local critters. Really though, he’s got a soft heart and will take the time to have a conversation with any live thing, even the brown lizards, who are taking over from the jewel-like green anoles.
That’s what it’s all about – tea parties – talking to the animals, family communications, reading each other’s books. It’s all about people loving people and working together in love and harmony.
Psalms 104:30 “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.” (KJV
Jessie, coming-of-age story set in the exciting years of the U.S. race for the moon and releases July 20, 2014. Pre-order are available now at a 60% discount. Kindle readers will need to purchase through Smashwords
