In the recreation hall of our chapel she was conducting an exercise class. She was serious and disciplined, then she’d crack a joke. And they were funny with just enough of a bite to make them really funny.
Then I’d read something she wrote in our ward (congregation) newsletter. Clever, ironic, with no wasted words.
I hired her to be one of my writers on a daily radio commentary I did on future trends.
Then, she became the sole writer. (I had written the scripts for the first four years. She, the remaining five.)
On that fifth year the series began winning awards. Five all together.
Then it ended for a season.
It started back up when I invited her to do the same for magazine articles. Again on future trends.
Then it ended again.
It started back up one more time when she helped me write my fourth book:
Bend, Create, and Plan Your Future.
Our collaboration has always been straight forward. Meaning: she takes a back seat to no man . . . . Equal means equal.
And in her last comment to me when she read my last essay on all those adventures I had with people writing those books, she left me a short comment: did you leave someone out . . . ?
Indeed, I did.
This has been an ode to Wendy. Thank you.
A March Through Madness With People With Whom I Wrote Books And A Master’s Thesis