The year was 2013, and I had just undergone my first-ever (hopefully last?) surgery. And it was major surgery, from which I had long-stretching days and weeks and months of recovery. Probably at least 6-8 weeks of that, I wasn't allowed to do much of anything, nor did I feel like living my normally active life. I mean, like, I didn't even put makeup on or attempt to do my hair--yikes!
I truly discovered Netflix during that time. Oh, we had had the service for probably a couple of years by then, but I hadn't had time to watch much on it. But for almost two months there, I had nothing but time! Talk about "ruining your mind with the boob-tube," which, of course, is what adults used to say back in the day, when their kids wanted to watch too much television.
Back then I had watched it because Michael J. Fox was cute and the show was kinda funny, in that order of importance.
Though Family Ties portrays some values I don't agree with, as an adult I was able to discern the genius comedy that had escaped me as a teenager, and I now didn't really care what MJF looked like. Probably my favorite moments are when Mr. Keaton or one of the other characters breaks into song, especially when the whole family tries to sing the baby to sleep, and the dad goes off on Alex.
Anyway, I'm not here to recommend watching the show or not, so I'll get to the point!
One night during my recovery, I was falling in and out of narcotic-induced sleep while watching Family Ties (I couldn't sleep in bed yet, so was on a recliner, a bit loopy from the pain medication), and at some point between sleep and wakefulness, I had a dream-ish thought, where I wondered how I would have handled it as a teen if I had somehow been given the opportunity for a one-time role on the show.
I pictured myself, with the bottle-blonde hair I had in real life as a teenager, shaking Michael J. Fox's hand as an unseen adult introduced us, and then immediately moving on to meet Mallory, Jennifer, and Mr. and Mrs. Keaton, treating MJF as just another regular person, rather than the idol he was probably used to being treated like by girls.
In other words, I played it totally cool. Um, probably not how I would have actually behaved back then, but this was my adult self, armed with a little more wisdom, having this "vision."
And, bam! The idea for A Safe Place to Land was born, and I wrote down my ideas. The story as a whole ended up taking a totally different direction than my original plan, though.
When I wrote down those notes, I had not even yet begun to consider publishing Lainey's Bridge, and so it wasn't until about 18 or so months later that I started to write A Safe Place to Land. The character Taryn is not much like me, and Tadd is not based on MJF, but they do have a moment similar to my dream-ish thingy.
As I wrote the book, I had forgotten about that weird dream-like-thing that had started the whole idea. But then a few months ago, when I was nearing the end of the first draft, I saw a MJF autobiography in the library. I checked it out, curious to see what kind of writer he was and what his life had consisted of besides being cute back in the eighties.
I wasn't surprised by how much I disagreed with his ideas on certain things, but I felt compassion for him concerning a number of things he has dealt with in his life, especially the Parkinson's Disease that began gradually overtaking his body when he was a young man.
I was moved to pray for him and for his family.
I even thought briefly about dedicating the book to him--yeah, seriously! A book dedication is a very serious decision--in my mind, anyway--though it would have been worded in a lighthearted way. But, I figured he'd never see it, so what was the point, you know? He'll never see this blog, either, but it's just for fun--just a chance to share with you one of the many strange stories in the word-tapestry of my life.
So, Michael J. Fox/Alex P. Keaton, it was nice meeting you, even though I really didn't, and even though you'll never see this. But, then, Taryn didn't think she'd ever meet Tadd . . .
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