Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest Lynne Podrat whose recent memoir, ‘Listen To Me: How My Down Syndrome Brother Saved My Life’, is out now.
Lynne Podrat graduated from the Pennsylvania State University and then spent fifteen years in the Fashion Industry as an Assistant Buyer and Department Manager with Bloomingdales Department Store before returning to school to receive her educational degrees from Arcadia University and Gynedd Mercy.
A retired educator and Administrator from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania School District, she taught English, literature, composition and history in elementary and secondary schools.
She has secretly been a writer and poet her whole life, but has only recently chosen to share those talents with the world. Lynne now lives with her husband in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, spending winters dragon boating where her heart races and summers hiking the Rockies in Vail, Colorado where her heart sings.
Bee: Tell us about your cover. Did you design it yourself?
Lynne: Hi Bee, thank you for hosting me.
I knew the flower would be included on the cover as it was what my brother had chosen for his funeral. My team at Social Books Agency had me research colors, pictures lettering and fonts of other memoirs and autobiographies so my choices of color scheme, matching the flower, font and lettering were solid prior to even formatting the book. I also wanted a picture of children on my cover, but none resonated for me and I almost changed my mind. Pure luck had me finding old pictures when we were young that had been stuck in photo albums I had taken from my mother’s apartment after her passing. I hadn’t looked at these albums and thought, perhaps, something would catch my fancy. There we were, in black and white, at the beginning of our journey together. With more help from my team, shading was added to blend with the flower, white instead of beige to accent the blues and blue lettering instead of black for softer blend of color.
Bee: How much time and effort went into your research for the book?
Lynne: Research in writing a memoir is different than writing historical fiction, an autobiography, or a historical account. So, I would like to answer this is a more unique fashion for your readers, if you don’t mind. Much research had already been done when Bruce was diagnosed with kidney disease and put on dialysis many years ago with negative consequences on his longevity already apparent.
I wrote Listen to Me initially as diary entries filled with special memories speaking into my phone while hiking the trails of Vail, Colorado, crying, dealing with my brother’s diagnoses of pancreatic cancer. We live in Vail for the summers, June through October. At home, I wrote those phone thoughts into a notebook. The months of July, August, September and October were spent speaking, face-timing and zooming with doctors to understand the surgery necessary to confirm this diagnosis, why surgery and chemotherapy were not options, and hospice care. Included with communicating with doctors were family, his group home personal one- on- one and nurse as his group home insisted upon having him “home” for hospice. We traveled from Colorado to Philadelphia twice in order to visit Bruce, make funeral arrangements and prepare the group home. November, we returned to Florida, making our third and final journey to Philadelphia spending the weekend in the hospital with him, holding his hand as he passed, finalizing funeral plans and organizing the Jewish tradition of shiva in his group home. I leave the computation of hours and effort in those five months to your audience.
Bee: How long did it take you to complete?
Lynne: From actually sitting down to create the manuscript from my written notes to the launch date, 11 months
Bee: Do you have any advice for families caring for a child or adult with down syndrome?
Lynne: Great question. As with any special needs child, never be afraid to ask for help, never be embarrassed or ashamed, always Listen. There are four national Down syndrome organizations in the United States: Global Down Syndrome Foundation, National Down Syndrome Congress, National Down Syndrome Society, and Down Syndrome Affiliates in Action.
Bee: I know your parents struggled with the decision to keep Bruce at home rather than send him to the state-run institution. Can you tell us more how your grandparents and yourself helped them make the decision to keep him at home? If this is too personal, I completely understand!
Lynne: Bee, Thank you for your kind consideration. Once my parents told me about the institution decision, I did immediate research, shared the pictures in the encyclopedia and threatened to run away with my other brother, David unless Bruce was brought home. Then I called my Bubbie Reba to tell her were coming.
She rallied the troops. My grandparents were wonderful, offering care support with an organized schedule. My maternal grandfather, Zadie Baizer, came three days per week, traveling by two buses early in the morning, changing diapers, walking the carriage, sitting outside with my brother while listening to his beloved Phillies (baseball) on the radio, not leaving until someone else was home to help my mother. Keep in mind, my grandfather now 70, had never changed a diaper before or been alone with a baby. My paternal grandmother, Bubbie Vera, who raised me as a young child, came the other two days. As three buses were necessary for her trip, quite taxing, my father drove her home in the evenings. Each couple rotated weekends with us, or we traveled to them.
Bee: What is your favorite scene in the book? Why?
Lynne: This is not easy, as I have a few. My favorite scene is watching Bruce and my mother talking about my father while she was recuperating in the hospital after hip surgery. I have included a snip it of their conversation,
“Mom, listen to me. Dad, he was your husband, right?” “Yes, Bruce he was my husband.”
“And you loved him very, much right?”
“Yes, I loved him very much.”
“Why don’t you tell me about him, you’ll feel better.”
I found this so endearing my eyes filled with tears. Such pure simplicity of thought and feeling. This man with the mind of a child, really, and a heart of gold trying to make his mother feel better about Dad while in the hospital.
Bee: It seems like you wrote ‘Listen To Me’ with a message to share. What is that message?
Lynne: Thank you for asking this. Yes, those with special needs have so much to offer. They should neither be ignored, looked down upon, nor be a forgotten memory. All we need do, is Listen!!!
Bee: Thanks again and good luck with ‘Listen To Me’!
Thank you, Bee, for these insightful questions and the opportunity to participate. It has been my pleasure