Welcome to my website
March 17, 2009So here it is. My first website. You found me and I’m so glad you did.
Lee Woodruff.com. Kind of scary. Like a brand: a type of ketchup, pantyhose or fabric softener. And there is a huge part of me, with only two books under my belt that feels like a complete fraud having a website at all. Don’t you have to BE somebody to have a website?
But here I am, a techno-peasant who has plunged into the world of on-line communications and I’m thrilled to be able to communicate with you, show you some of my work and listen to what you have to say as well. I will try to keep this blog updated on a regular basis.
I can honestly say that over the past two years, after the publication of In an Instant I have been honored to meet so many individuals and families who are facing their own challenges that life has hurled at them.
When someone has read the book, one of the biggest compliments I hear is when that person tells me that they can imagine we might be friends if we lived in the same town. As a writer, it is an honor to think about the connections made to everyone who reads something I wrote. It’s humbling.
I hope that with this new book, Perfectly Imperfect and with the first book, In an Instant, I have captured some of the many, commonalities in simply being a wife, mother, caregiver, sister, daughter, working woman, friend and all the many other ways we define ourselves.
I also invite you to contact me with your story. Sometimes just the act of sharing opens people up to continue healing or simply feeling part of a greater community.
And now – a list of this week’s fun words to say. I’m a word-collector and so when I come across a word I like, or dislike, (some of these are parts of the male anatomy involved in reproduction ) I add it to a list.
These are my current fun words:
Chucklehead
Thatch
Cinnamon
Destruction
Lycra
Naturally Lycra is the key ingredient in Spanx. Now most of you gals know what Spanx are. I like to tell my husband they are sausage casing for the female form. A modern kind of girdle. You are looking nice and tight in your clothes and then BAMM – when you peel the body stocking off at bedtime it’s like Cup-O-Noodles after you add the hot water.
Some secrets are best not shared.
Lastly -- Do you twitter? Now you have a good reason to...
With Memorial Day coming up-- I'd love for you to Join me and Tweet to ReMIND Tweet for Injured Troops on Memorial Day Weekend
ReMIND.org's goal is to mobilize 400,000 Twitter users over Memorial Day weekend (Friday, May 22, to Monday, May 25). We want to send a message of support to the troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, and raise $1.65 million for local support services and resources to assist their recovery from the physical and psychological wounds of war. Each Twitter user must Tweet at least four times in order to attain our goal.
Let our service members and military families know that you recognize the sacrifices they have made. Pledge now. Tweet to ReMIND on Memorial Day weekend! http://tweettoremind.org/
Tweets for Tweet to ReMIND must include the hashtag #tweettoremind
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Reader Comments (56)
Lee, I just finished the new book and I can't tell you how deeply it moved me. Lots of experiences of you saying things I thought only I thought. I didn't want it to end and I may start it all over again. It's been a perfect morning out on my deck alone with iced tea, your fantastic book, a sweet dog and Kenny Chesney singing in the background-ain't nothing better. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for both of your wonderful books. Keep em coming, I can't wait!! Love Nancy
Dear Lee, You & your family have been in my mind so often. I was thinking of you yesterday and when I could not sleep last night I thought I would try to find a web site for you, not knowing you really did have one. Complete with a blog! I have been able to feel alot of the same emotions that you have. My husband was diagnosed with dementia when he was 63. He is now 67. During emergency surgery in Feb. he was diagnosed with a frontal lobe tumor. You think your life is going along really well then everything can change in an instant. I feel sad lonely and unloved while trying to keep my husband on an even keel. My thoughts and prayers are with you & your entire family as each new day unfolds. Sincerely, Debbie Wooten
Debbie - I am so sorry for your journey and I hope the book brought you some comfort...it is a very tough journey and I wish i had the answers and a magic wand for all of the people i meet. god bless you
lee
i love that nancy!
i tried to get this taken care of for you-- did it work?
did you ever get the book-- perhaps through the internet?
Dear Lee,
Just finished reading Perfectly Imperfect. As an oldest sister of three girls growing up in the 60's, everything you write about resonates, the last three chapters especially. I, for one, am glad you kept in #9 in What I Know Now. I am a person of enormous faith and mother of a daughter with Marfan Syndrome. When a child is first diagnosed with a potential death sentence, hearing "God never gives you more than you can handle," nearly sent me over the edge. In fact, I think God frequently does give you more than you can handle at that moment and it is up to one to just keep moving forward in faith, that EVENTUALLY, you just might be able to handle it. I agree that all of those platitudes should be stricken from the English language! Keep up all of your good works and peace to you.
We met in Spokane Wa. a while back at a confirence put together by St. Lukes hospital. I would like to pass on some info. to you. You met with my wife as well and KXLY 4 interviewed us all. I am 2 year's 4 month's 3 days old today. Died 4 time's that day, broke my neck and face in 5 place's. Truely the hiden injury.
Thank you in advance
Wow. Read some of your earlier blogs and here are some thoughts: 1. You are brave. I'm not referring to bob but of course that but w how honest you are in your responses to comments.
2. You are generous. You don't have to respond to peoples comments but you do. Very kind
3. I love words too. Some goofy ones I drove my family nuts w are: we drove the Yakima to winnemucca. ( a yellowstone trip)
berings. I got stuck on that word and used it constantly drove my husband mad. Concierge. Aw. No explanation needed. K.s.
I just would like to say thank you for giving me hope and strength through your own experience. My brother had a stroke a couple months ago which affects his word retrievel, language, cognition, etc.,. He struggles with memory but I just finished a phone call with him and he said something to me that he has been unable to say to me when we would end a phone call and I am crying tears of happiness. He said, "Love you dearly" I have not heard those words for so long. My sister-in-law and I have been staying positive after reading your story and know he can make it and so can we. Thank you
I'm reading "In an Instant" which I got while Bob was in Little Rock to speak. I recently shared it w/my niece whose huband is in the hospital from injuries suffered when a tree collapsed on him 5wks ago. Julie read it and is holding on to your experience as Frank recovers from his injuries. Anyway, now I'm reading it and came to your 1/31/2006 entry re: your arrival to D.C. You mention your friends Susan Baker and her husband, Robin, and I'm thinking, "I know these people". I worked in the Dept. of Pediatrics when Susan Brady & Robin Baker did their residencies at the Univ. of Ark. for Medical Sciences. I'm soooo enjoying the book and it was fun to come across this little "blast from the past".
Bob autographed the book for me and I'm planning to ask Frank to sign it once he's able to write again. Frank awoke just this week and while very different, he & Julie have their own "In an Instant" story to tell. May God continue to bless your family and thank you for sharing your story.
Comments to add to the list of "What Not to Say"
Hi Lee,
I spoke with you shortly, at the end of the Brain Injury Association of WA event tonight. I felt very touched by the evening, the people I met and spoke with, some of whom I met tonight, others were part of my husband's entourage of doctors and law office staff post accident.
I sent another note of thanks to your foundation's e-mail address. I remember a piece that I forgot to write in that e-mail. You invited stories about inappropriate things that people say. I believe this one tops them all. It's mine, so I get to put it on top.
My husband Bill was hit by a car while riding his bicycle home from work in the bike lane on Second AVE, downtown Seattle on October 2, 2002. I was in Santa Fe at school when I received the phone call from his sister. I returned to Seattle, Bill's dad picked me up at the airport and we drove to Harborview, Seattle's trauma center. I was asked to wait, as they were doing a procedure, I can't remember details, other than I needed to wait down the hall. His brother was in the room as well and as we proceeded down the hall to see Bill, he tells me, "now that Bill has had the test, I'll get the materials for him and get him a bible." I was very patient with him and said something very nice - but I really did want to smack the daylights out of him and invite him to get the hell out of our presence.
Let me know if this is juicy enough to add to the list. There's plenty of backstory to it too. He and his wife gave us bibles for Christmas one year. Not nice bibles, but crappy paperback ones that looked like pulp fiction. So I asked his wife, 'what is this?', in a conversational tone, thinking it was a work of fiction that she had recently enjoyed. She proceeded to describe to me what the FLIPPING bible is, as if, at 36 years old, with the name MARY flippin MARTHA, I didn't have a clue what it was. I was floored. I still am.
Best to you and your family, Lee. Please feel free to call us for a cozy place to stay in Seattle if you are visiting and would like a more personal encounter with our beautiful State. We can share really bad brain humor. That's one of the reasons I stick with my pain in the A** husband. He's wicked funny. Mary Edwards 425-271-1979 PS, you've also inspired me to write. I have always known it will help me deal and heal.
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Excellent work. You have gained a new subscriber. Please keep up the good work and I look forward to more of the same interesting posts.