JB: I have three kids, which means I have a lot of gray hair. So I have to color regularly. I think it is important to experiment with hair color because, after all, if you don’t get a bad color every once in awhile I don’t think you can truly appreciate the rare times you get a good color.
My oldest son, Somnus (god of sleep) is 18. He graduated from high school last year and, following a semester at George Mason, is back home and working to save for his next year at college. He’s handsome, funny, smart, a wit, and he has dreamy blue eyes. I once overheard a girl ask him if his eyes were “real” because they are so blue. He is a writer. I’d like to say he gets some of his writing talent from me, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. His words are profound and concise and he has a real gift that couldn’t possibly have come from an influence as humble as mine. I can’t wait to see where life takes him in the next few years.
Next in line is Thor (god of thunder). For the purposes of this blog, I really wanted to use the alias Njord for him. Njord is the god of wind and if you spent any time with him, you’d understand what I’m talking about. He talks a lot so one could make the comparison of the northern wind having to do with the mouth. But really, he’s most talented with those southerly winds. He was pretty upset that I wanted to call him Njord. After much deliberation (and a bit of a bribe), he agreed to Thor. And I suppose that the god of thunder reference is more than appropriate in his case anyway. Thor is brilliant as well. He has soulful brown eyes rimmed with dark lashes. His sense of humor is biting and tends to come out at the most inopportune times—like when I’m trying to discipline him for example. He can even bring his dad to his knees with laughter during a tense moment. He has aspirations of being a mechanical engineer someday and with the modifications he makes to things around the house on a regular basis, I fear the world is in for a real treat.
And that brings me to Cleopatra. For those of you who think Cleopatra means “Queen of the Nile” you’d be WRONG. Cleopatra (Cleo for short) means “Queen of Everything.” She’s eleven now but if you asked her to tell you her age, she wouldn’t say “I’m eleven.” She’d say, “I’m 186 days away from being twelve.” She has a penchant for shoes and jewelry and dresses that twirl. Yet she’s one of the biggest tom-boys I know. She only speaks harshly when defending herself and she always makes sure she buys her brothers a gift at Christmas time, even though they rarely get one for her. She’s a straight A student. She loves children and puppies and the color purple. And thinking of her being all grown up can make her dad cry. (And her mom too, but that’s really nobody’s business.)
As for me . . . In addition to three wonderful kids, I have a wonderful husband. We’ve been married for 19 years. We moved to Virginia almost five years ago. At that time I was a practicing physician assistant. I left the profession after eleven years to pursue writing full time. I’ve had three books published so far. The Deputy’s Widow was published in 2008 with Arctic Wolf Publishing. Shortly after that, I met Eric Beetner through the Film Noir Foundation’s Web site and we began writing together. We have co-written two novels together. Both were picked up by Second Wind Publishing. One Too Many Blows To The Head was published in 2010 and Borrowed Trouble was published in 2011. I’ve always got a project in the works, but I have to say that the most important job I have is being a mom.
