| Biographical Non-Fiction posted February 4, 2024 |
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In memory of a FanStory lady.
Sarah
by Terry Broxson
Sarah Robin (row-ben), "Not like the bird, my husband was Cajun."
Sarah passed away Saturday evening, February 3, 2024.
I met Sarah in the summer of 2022. I had checked my mail. As I passed through the lobby of my condo building, I said hello to Diane, a neighbor who lived on the fourth floor down the hall from me. She was sitting on a couch in the lobby, talking to another lady I didn't know.
My neighbor introduced me to Sarah. She had recently moved into a third-floor condo. The ladies were discussing a tornado warning our area had experienced the day before. Sarah commented she had difficulty walking down the stairs to the ground-floor shelter because the lights in the stairway were not working.
Acting like a typical, know-it-all guy, I said, "You need a good flashlight for emergencies."
She allowed as to how she did.
When I got up to my condo a few minutes later, I remarked to the spirit of my deceased wife, "You know, that lady is never going to get that flashlight."
I pondered that observation for a bit. Not the part about talking to my deceased wife. I considered that normal. I quickly decided the only reasonable thing to do.
That's how Sarah found a flashlight hanging in a Lowe's Home Improvement bag on the front door of her condo. No note had been provided explaining anything. But Sarah didn't need a roadmap to figure it out.
A couple of days later, she called and said, "I want to thank you for the flashlight. Please join me for a glass of wine at about five."
"Sarah, that's kind of you, but not necessary, and I really don't drink wine."
"I got a big bottle of Jack Daniels."
"You said five, right?"
And that is how I came to know Sarah Robin.
"Terry, I understand from Diane that you are a writer." We were both sipping Jack Daniels. Her glass added water and ice, and mine held only the golden nectar.
"Well, I don't think of myself as very good, but I do write stories on a site called FanStory."
"I want to know more about it. I have some stories I want to write. The stories are mainly about places and some things I have experienced. I want to leave a legacy for my family and some of my friends."
Sarah joined FanStory in August of 2022. In the following eighteen months, she wrote and posted twenty-four stories. Three of her stories were nominated for Story of the Month. Her last story is a current nominee.
She told of living in many places in America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Other stories were written about experiences with exciting locales and people.
Sarah posted her first story on August 4, 2022, about her granddaughter, Jessica. She received thirty-nine reviews and ranked number seventeen for August. Not bad for a newbie.
She posted her last story on January 21, 2024, entitled, A New Journey. Using only four paragraphs, she wrote in an honest, sincere way the news that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
The diagnosis came out of the blue.
I am going to share a few things with you that you don't know about Sarah. In doing so, I hope you will understand how FanStory became a special part of her life.
The first part of her adult life centered on being married to her first husband. She met him while they were in college in North Carolina. He graduated first and took a job with Alcoa. His first assignment took them to Tennessee. That's how Sarah finished her education at the University of Tennessee and became a Tennessee Volunteer for life.
Alcoa moved them all over America, Australia, and New Zealand. Sadly, her first husband died suddenly and unexpectedly.
She immersed herself in playing bridge. She told me. "I made a lot of money playing and teaching bridge, and it helped me get through the sadness of losing my husband."
She met another man, a university professor. The marriage lasted twenty years. They lived in Europe and Florida and traveled extensively. Life was good. Until one day when she was seventy-nine years old. He said, "I don't want to be married to you anymore."
When I heard those words from her, I thought that guy needed a lesson with a baseball bat.
She admitted she felt lost. She talked to one of her sons, Kevin, who lives in Texas. He said, "Come to Texas." She stayed with her son and his wife, Denise for a month until finding her condo about twenty minutes away.
I asked Sarah, "I don't detect any deep resentment about your ex-husband."
"Oh, I had some at first, but I quickly put it behind me. I didn't want the rest of my life to be consumed with bitterness. I wanted to be surrounded with happiness and good people."
That is precisely what she found in our condo community. At this point, we have about two hundred people in six buildings. Our community is restricted to people over 55. Some still work, but most don't. This is not a retirement/assisted living community. We don't have a social director. Residents organize themselves into groups with common interests.
Some, like me, are hermits.
Sarah became well known. She helped organize the bridge club. She joined the book club. She attended most of the social events. And she joined the group learning to play the ukulele. She wanted to learn to play Rocky Top. That's the official song of the State of Tennessee and is closely associated with the university's football team.
We could all learn a lesson about attitude from Sarah.
The picture with this story is Sarah and me at a book reading last December. She wanted to organize an event to help promote my recently published Santa Claus book. I admit to being surprised by the number of people who attended. People came because they knew her.
I think she may have been more excited about the book than me. But that was Sarah.
When she first started writing on FanStory, she asked for my help in organizing her story and pictures. She asked me to read her stories, as she wanted to make sure they would be alright. I read them and assured her they would be well received. I don't recall ever suggesting a single change.
Sarah was only new to writing on FS. She had written a regular newspaper column about how to play bridge. She had also written guides on playing bridge and how to be good at it.
After she had posted a few stories, one day, I remarked, "You need to write a bridge story. It's too bad you never played with Omar Sharif."
"Oh, I did."
"What, you played bridge with Dr. Zhivago?"
That's how she came to post Bridge with Omar Sharif.
From the first story she wrote, she felt blessed by every review. Her feeling toward each reviewer was that a valuable friend had been found. You were a welcome visitor to her life. She especially treasured the folks in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. She embodied a genteel American lady of the South who had once lived among you.
Sarah wanted to write on FS because she had some stories to leave for her family and friends.
What she found was a new family of friends. She enjoyed reading each of the people who had reviewed her. I think her Southern heritage required her to reciprocate. Completing that task gave her great pleasure.
Last November, on her 81st birthday, Debi Pick Marquette honored her with one of her birthday poems. If I told you she became giddy, tickled, and delighted, I would be underselling it.
On December 22, she invited me to her condo for one of our Jack Daniels. She said the cover of my Santa book was being custom framed and would most likely be ready after New Year's. That's how Sarah did things. Personal.
On January 8, Sarah's neighbor and friend called me and said Sarah had been hospitalized. Some of her friends were in her condo and asked me to come down. They had something for me. Sarah had asked, "Make sure Terry gets this."
Of course, I knew it was the framed book cover. She thought I might put it on my desk. It's hanging in the living room.
I sent a note to Debi Marquette about Sarah being in the hospital. Debi posted a poem about it. Forty-five people reviewed the poem. Most didn't know Sarah, but they offered prayers and best wishes.
The following day, Sarah shared the diagnosis with her friends and me. I asked Debi to update her author's notes.
A few days later, she came home to her condo. Her son had moved in to help take care of her. She invited me for happy hour. She explained in simple, non-emotional words. "I'm not going to receive any treatment. I'll be entering hospice care."
Her son had read her Debi's poem and many of the reviews. She wanted to write to each reviewer and thank them. That wasn't possible.
She asked me about posting a story...My New Journey. After discussing options for a bit, she decided to dictate the story to her son, and he posted it. I know he read her the reviews.
Karenina came up with the idea to send cards to Sarah at home as a way to offer encouragement. Annmuma, Debi, and others joined as well. I know she got them.
As I finish this story, I find myself reflecting on something that has bothered me about FS. But now I think I know the answer.
FanStory has a few folks who think writing on this site is about the purity of and pursuit of better writing. They lament that FS has developed several groups of friends and that some members consider writing here a form of therapy. I suppose for them, that's right.
In the last year and a half, I witnessed firsthand what the joy of writing on FS meant to Sarah. The pleasure came from her writing, your reviews, and reading your stories and poems. And most importantly, she had developed new friends.
Maybe some of her interest in starting to write did include a form of therapy to help her move away from the end of a marriage. I will say writing this story is also a form of therapy for me.
I witnessed Debi, Karenina, and Ann's response to her situation. I read the forty-five reviews of Debi's poem. I told her about those. I read the thirty-four reviews of her last post. She wanted everyone to know how much those words meant to her.
During her lifetime, Sarah enjoyed tennis, golf, bridge, travel, fine wine, good food, interesting places, writing, reading, American football, all things The University of Tennessee, and people.
Sarah embraced family, happiness, and friendships. But the most important thing she embraced was life.
Story of the Month contest entry
Sarah Robin (row-ben), "Not like the bird, my husband was Cajun."
Sarah passed away Saturday evening, February 3, 2024.
I met Sarah in the summer of 2022. I had checked my mail. As I passed through the lobby of my condo building, I said hello to Diane, a neighbor who lived on the fourth floor down the hall from me. She was sitting on a couch in the lobby, talking to another lady I didn't know.
My neighbor introduced me to Sarah. She had recently moved into a third-floor condo. The ladies were discussing a tornado warning our area had experienced the day before. Sarah commented she had difficulty walking down the stairs to the ground-floor shelter because the lights in the stairway were not working.
Acting like a typical, know-it-all guy, I said, "You need a good flashlight for emergencies."
She allowed as to how she did.
When I got up to my condo a few minutes later, I remarked to the spirit of my deceased wife, "You know, that lady is never going to get that flashlight."
I pondered that observation for a bit. Not the part about talking to my deceased wife. I considered that normal. I quickly decided the only reasonable thing to do.
That's how Sarah found a flashlight hanging in a Lowe's Home Improvement bag on the front door of her condo. No note had been provided explaining anything. But Sarah didn't need a roadmap to figure it out.
A couple of days later, she called and said, "I want to thank you for the flashlight. Please join me for a glass of wine at about five."
"Sarah, that's kind of you, but not necessary, and I really don't drink wine."
"I got a big bottle of Jack Daniels."
"You said five, right?"
And that is how I came to know Sarah Robin.
"Terry, I understand from Diane that you are a writer." We were both sipping Jack Daniels. Her glass added water and ice, and mine held only the golden nectar.
"Well, I don't think of myself as very good, but I do write stories on a site called FanStory."
"I want to know more about it. I have some stories I want to write. The stories are mainly about places and some things I have experienced. I want to leave a legacy for my family and some of my friends."
Sarah joined FanStory in August of 2022. In the following eighteen months, she wrote and posted twenty-four stories. Three of her stories were nominated for Story of the Month. Her last story is a current nominee.
She told of living in many places in America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Other stories were written about experiences with exciting locales and people.
Sarah posted her first story on August 4, 2022, about her granddaughter, Jessica. She received thirty-nine reviews and ranked number seventeen for August. Not bad for a newbie.
She posted her last story on January 21, 2024, entitled, A New Journey. Using only four paragraphs, she wrote in an honest, sincere way the news that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
The diagnosis came out of the blue.
I am going to share a few things with you that you don't know about Sarah. In doing so, I hope you will understand how FanStory became a special part of her life.
The first part of her adult life centered on being married to her first husband. She met him while they were in college in North Carolina. He graduated first and took a job with Alcoa. His first assignment took them to Tennessee. That's how Sarah finished her education at the University of Tennessee and became a Tennessee Volunteer for life.
Alcoa moved them all over America, Australia, and New Zealand. Sadly, her first husband died suddenly and unexpectedly.
She immersed herself in playing bridge. She told me. "I made a lot of money playing and teaching bridge, and it helped me get through the sadness of losing my husband."
She met another man, a university professor. The marriage lasted twenty years. They lived in Europe and Florida and traveled extensively. Life was good. Until one day when she was seventy-nine years old. He said, "I don't want to be married to you anymore."
When I heard those words from her, I thought that guy needed a lesson with a baseball bat.
She admitted she felt lost. She talked to one of her sons, Kevin, who lives in Texas. He said, "Come to Texas." She stayed with her son and his wife, Denise for a month until finding her condo about twenty minutes away.
I asked Sarah, "I don't detect any deep resentment about your ex-husband."
"Oh, I had some at first, but I quickly put it behind me. I didn't want the rest of my life to be consumed with bitterness. I wanted to be surrounded with happiness and good people."
That is precisely what she found in our condo community. At this point, we have about two hundred people in six buildings. Our community is restricted to people over 55. Some still work, but most don't. This is not a retirement/assisted living community. We don't have a social director. Residents organize themselves into groups with common interests.
Some, like me, are hermits.
Sarah became well known. She helped organize the bridge club. She joined the book club. She attended most of the social events. And she joined the group learning to play the ukulele. She wanted to learn to play Rocky Top. That's the official song of the State of Tennessee and is closely associated with the university's football team.
We could all learn a lesson about attitude from Sarah.
The picture with this story is Sarah and me at a book reading last December. She wanted to organize an event to help promote my recently published Santa Claus book. I admit to being surprised by the number of people who attended. People came because they knew her.
I think she may have been more excited about the book than me. But that was Sarah.
When she first started writing on FanStory, she asked for my help in organizing her story and pictures. She asked me to read her stories, as she wanted to make sure they would be alright. I read them and assured her they would be well received. I don't recall ever suggesting a single change.
Sarah was only new to writing on FS. She had written a regular newspaper column about how to play bridge. She had also written guides on playing bridge and how to be good at it.
After she had posted a few stories, one day, I remarked, "You need to write a bridge story. It's too bad you never played with Omar Sharif."
"Oh, I did."
"What, you played bridge with Dr. Zhivago?"
That's how she came to post Bridge with Omar Sharif.
From the first story she wrote, she felt blessed by every review. Her feeling toward each reviewer was that a valuable friend had been found. You were a welcome visitor to her life. She especially treasured the folks in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. She embodied a genteel American lady of the South who had once lived among you.
Sarah wanted to write on FS because she had some stories to leave for her family and friends.
What she found was a new family of friends. She enjoyed reading each of the people who had reviewed her. I think her Southern heritage required her to reciprocate. Completing that task gave her great pleasure.
Last November, on her 81st birthday, Debi Pick Marquette honored her with one of her birthday poems. If I told you she became giddy, tickled, and delighted, I would be underselling it.
On December 22, she invited me to her condo for one of our Jack Daniels. She said the cover of my Santa book was being custom framed and would most likely be ready after New Year's. That's how Sarah did things. Personal.
On January 8, Sarah's neighbor and friend called me and said Sarah had been hospitalized. Some of her friends were in her condo and asked me to come down. They had something for me. Sarah had asked, "Make sure Terry gets this."
Of course, I knew it was the framed book cover. She thought I might put it on my desk. It's hanging in the living room.
I sent a note to Debi Marquette about Sarah being in the hospital. Debi posted a poem about it. Forty-five people reviewed the poem. Most didn't know Sarah, but they offered prayers and best wishes.
The following day, Sarah shared the diagnosis with her friends and me. I asked Debi to update her author's notes.
A few days later, she came home to her condo. Her son had moved in to help take care of her. She invited me for happy hour. She explained in simple, non-emotional words. "I'm not going to receive any treatment. I'll be entering hospice care."
Her son had read her Debi's poem and many of the reviews. She wanted to write to each reviewer and thank them. That wasn't possible.
She asked me about posting a story...My New Journey. After discussing options for a bit, she decided to dictate the story to her son, and he posted it. I know he read her the reviews.
Karenina came up with the idea to send cards to Sarah at home as a way to offer encouragement. Annmuma, Debi, and others joined as well. I know she got them.
As I finish this story, I find myself reflecting on something that has bothered me about FS. But now I think I know the answer.
FanStory has a few folks who think writing on this site is about the purity of and pursuit of better writing. They lament that FS has developed several groups of friends and that some members consider writing here a form of therapy. I suppose for them, that's right.
In the last year and a half, I witnessed firsthand what the joy of writing on FS meant to Sarah. The pleasure came from her writing, your reviews, and reading your stories and poems. And most importantly, she had developed new friends.
Maybe some of her interest in starting to write did include a form of therapy to help her move away from the end of a marriage. I will say writing this story is also a form of therapy for me.
I witnessed Debi, Karenina, and Ann's response to her situation. I read the forty-five reviews of Debi's poem. I told her about those. I read the thirty-four reviews of her last post. She wanted everyone to know how much those words meant to her.
During her lifetime, Sarah enjoyed tennis, golf, bridge, travel, fine wine, good food, interesting places, writing, reading, American football, all things The University of Tennessee, and people.
Sarah embraced family, happiness, and friendships. But the most important thing she embraced was life.
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Post Number 200 A Milestone Post |
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© Copyright 2024. Terry Broxson All rights reserved.
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