I’ve been lucky to have dear best friends over the years. I met my dear late friend Norma over forty years ago. My late daughter, Kate, was a baby and Norma, though old enough to be my mother, became my very bestie for decades. She had the qualities of a wonderful mother, wife and friend. She was brilliant. Her father and mother owned a bakery shop in the Bronx when she was a child. She went to NYU, which was a rarity for women in the late 1930’s. At twenty, she was a PT in the army stationed in England in World War II. There she met her late husband of over fifty years, Arch. Later in life they survived the death of their adult sons due to health problems. The inspiration from being  Norma’s friend was life changing for me.

When I lost my daughter, Kate, in a tragic accident, Norma was my rock to lean on. She had been through losing her one son then and knew the heartache. We were so close that we talked of the serious things of our lives but also we both had our  humorous positive side. Her humor was infectious. She gave me advice on childrearing and marriage and career. She taught me to love life even through the horrendous grief of losing Kate. She would wake up every day opening her curtains saying “Good Morning World!”

Before she died she read my first book, The Angel’s Daughter, and passed away after the second novel, To Catch an Angel. Of course she was the inspiration for Madam Norma, the oldest psychic town,  in all my books in the Mystic Bay Series.  She was thrilled to have a character patterned after her. But the funny thing was Norma wasn’t psychic in real life, nor did she believe in God. That is til the end. She saw spirits and her husband then. I miss her everyday still. But I know she is in heaven’s realm, and with her beloved Arch and sons. Norma’s wit and wisdom will follow me all the days of my life. Through sadness she was kind and calm. Norma was a gift to me from above, a role model to remember. In my award winning novel 20 Moon Rd. An Angel’s Tale, her character comes to Angel Ken in spirit asking him to write her life’s story to the world. In the novels Madam Norma had always seen angels by everyone’s  side. Surely, an angel sent this incredible human into my life. In the novel I wrote, I captured her essence, Madam Norma says, “Kindness Is The First Ingredient of Love.