By Terry Plumb
Friends of the York County Library
The Rest of Our Lives, by Judy Goldman, Blair/Carolina Wren Press, 188 pp., $17.95, paperback.
Judy Goldman has always been interested in life’s stages, looking for what she calls “genesis stories,” tales we forge from memory and filter through imagination to better understand how we arrived at the here and now.
In her latest book, The Rest of Our Lives, the accomplished memoirist, 83, weaves her tapestry of genesis stories to fashion a frank but reassuring look at life to come.
She writes that as a teenager heading to Myrtle Beach, S.C., she made sure to pack her padded bra. These days, a heating pad is essential gear for any beach vacation. Trip details couldn’t differ more, she writes, but comparing such bookend moments of life reveals that despite the intervening decades — replete with stories of marriage, children, grandchildren, deaths of loved ones, all the joys and heartbreaks of existence — she’s still the same Judy Kurtz who grew up in a small Southern town known for textile mills and a women’s college.
“Regardless of our age,” she writes, “we’re all still kids, grappling. Trying to find the opening in our uncertainty. The feeling back then, of not being ready for what came next is like this feeling, right now, of not being ready for what comes next.”
Although a memoir of what’s next for octogenarians could be off-putting in this forever-young culture, this book is anything but.
Goldman asked longtime, close friends for thoughts of what life has in store. “There are a lot of things I used to love to do that I don’t want to do anymore,” said one, “but I really miss wanting to do them.”
The author’s fourth memoir is filled with such insights on aging, the loss of friends and relatives, and how to accept the hand life has dealt.
“Mediocrity was never my goal,” she writes, “but as I get closer to the end, I find that perfection is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
The Rest of Our Lives may not achieve perfection status, but for anyone old enough to reflect on the universal journey, this book would be a worthy and delightful travel companion.
–––
Terry Plumb is the retired editor of The Herald and lives in Rock Hill, S.C.
I Love Giving Interviews and Talks!
When I was little, I entered talent show after talent show, never winning but always hopeful. I’m really just a ham. I no longer tap dance or twirl a baton, but I do love giving readings and talks. I especially like tailoring a talk to a specific group — whether it’s a Friends of the Library event, book fair, writers’ conference, civic group, religious organization, or any gathering of women.
For example, I can talk about relationships (the changes that take place in every marriage – the slow, expected ones and the sudden, surprising ones); the importance of taking on new challenges as we grow older; how we patients must navigate today’s health care system; the craft and process of writing – or more specifically, writing memoir and personal essays. I can talk about the similarities and differences in writing memoir, novels, and poems; how I’ve used details from my life in my writing. I also love encouraging others to write their story. I believe there are a lot of people out there who want to turn their memories and real-life experiences into art.