Are You There, Judy? It’s Me, Lolly.

On the advent of the Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret movie release on Friday (4/28) based on the novel written by my literary hero, Judy Blume, I have been reflecting on my quasi-pilgrimmage to Key West, Florida in 2018. When I found out that Judy Blume and her husband, George Cooper, co-owned a bookstore in Key West, I promptly added it to my mental bucket list. I dreamed of going one day in hopes of meeting Judy. My chance came when my boys and husband were going to attend a Boy Scout adventure camp, Sea Base. Billed as a family trip as well, we drove hours upon hours to get to Marathon, FL. The guys were to join their crew and embark from there. I was to drive on down Highway One to the southernmost part of our beautiful country. We had a slight change in plans, and one of our boys did not make the sailing trip after all. He traveled on with me.

As we were checking into our bed and breakfast, our host asked if we had any questions. I asked him to tell me about Judy Blume's bookstore. He said, "Well, she's usually there on Tuesdays!" It was a Tuesday so I thanked him, ran upstairs to drop off our luggage and walked to Books and Books At the Studios! The first thing I realized as we were walking is that Key West is quite a humid place (It was summer so what did I expect being near the ocean?). The second thing was that I was not familiar with Key West whatsoever so our dependence on our map was critical. We arrived at the bookstore dripping in sweat to meet the most spectacular author I could ever hope to share three words with! She was nothing but kind and full of smiles. I purchased several books that she was gracious enough to autograph. I babbled how much her writing has meant to me as a kid, a teacher, and a mother! I had my picture taken with her. Yes, sticky and sweaty, but I was standing next to my hero! There was one book I wanted that they had to order and would be in days later. That meant I had to return again hoping she would be there to autograph that book. She was and I was able to ask for another picture attempt as I had not walked in the humidity and I was not sweaty! That is one of my most treasured pictures. Both times I was able to interact with her she was very engaging and fully focused on me. That was one of the things that further endeared her to me.

This weekend we watched a documentary titled Judy Blume Forever. Listening to her speak and share all that she has gone through in life to get to be where she is today at 85 blew me away. She is certainly a woman who knew what she wanted and didn't back down once she set her goals in sight. I am proud of her accomplishments and the love she has for children of all ages. She believes in telling children the truth not hiding it from them. I applaud her for that!

I have a book titled Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume. It is an anthology of essays from various authors who pay tribute to Judy through reflections of their experiences reading her work. It is a great piece of my library. I know I share a love for her with many close friends and friends I do not even know! What binds us? We needed answers to certain questions, and Judy was not afraid to tell us the truth.

On Friday of this week, a group of friends are gathering together with me and we are going to relive our childhood through Margaret on the big screen! I am a bit giddy about it. One of my favorite things to share with friends is our love of books and this one is certainly one to treasure "Forever!"

Side note: The book Forever (also by Judy)...my mother told me I couldn't read it. She didn't tell me why so I snuck it out of the library on one of our visits. I know that was a dishonest thing to do. I guess the library didn't have detectors at the doors then! I did return it, though! And, I probably did not need to read it at that time in my life. I learned more than I needed to know then. Ha! There is a reason why we tell children that certain books are not appropriate at certain times in their lives, but we must explain why. Yanking them out of their hands or shelves with no explanation is a disservice to them. Instead we should teach them to keep a "Books to Read" list and help them discern what age might be more appropriate to read them. One thing that makes Judy a bit (a lot) frustrated is the banning of books. Books don't hurt children. They teach them. Again, children and parents should discuss when it would be appropriate to read certain books that are challenged or banned. May we all acquire the wisdom we need to make informed decisions about our reading lives.

I'm with the banned! And Judy Blume will "Forever" be in my heart.