Do you have a childhood
friend with whom you still connect? If so, you are fortunate. Many friendships
come and go, and if you have maintained a relationship with a friend who has
known the real you since youthful days, that is a blessing!
Amanda Sue Rose and I began a
friendship in our southern California junior high, continuing through high
school, and have never severed that bond. Graduating from high school in 1969, I
moved to New York; however, in those forty-six years (how is that possible?) we
have always stayed in touch. In the ancient days before email, we sent letters
by snail mail, describing what was currently happening in our lives. We simply
never lost that connection.
Amanda Sue’s experiences in
life could easily be material for a movie on the Lifetime television channel.
She is extremely trusting, and when people hear Amanda’s story, they always
tell her, “I can’t believe all of this happened to one person!” or “You have to
write a book!”
At our 40th southern
California high school reunion that was held in Las Vegas, Amanda Sue and I
allotted time to sit by the hotel pool and capture the details of her life
story. I recorded and transcribed the recollections of her early life as the
daughter of a man who enjoyed a long career as a cameraman in the Hollywood
film industry and a stay-at-home mom who suffered a debilitating injury to her
legs in an auto accident in her late teens.
The young Amanda Sue had all
of the advantages that any girl could want. One of our close friends, Katrina,
and I nicknamed Amanda “Hollywood” when we were teenagers. This nickname
represented two origins:
1-With her father’s
connections in the movie and television industry, she was exposed to many
celebrities during her adolescence.
2-She had a certain flair. She
knew how to wear subtle makeup that wasn’t overwhelming, but enhanced her perky
features, giving her a far more glamorous appearance than we were able to
muster during our awkward teen years.
Somehow she ended up being
referred to as “Hollywood,” but didn’t even know this until we reminisced about
that phase of our lives.
After the Las Vegas meeting,
I continued to interview, record and transcribe Amanda Sue’s memories, and we
finally developed a manuscript that reflected her story in her own words. I
emailed the manuscript to her, and the experience of seeing one’s life spelled
out in black and white with size 12, Times New Roman font, had an unexpected
impact on her. She actually found it to be distressing to see the entire scope
of her life replayed right before her eyes. You may not understand that until
you read her story: four husbands represented four harrowing, dramatic
experiences. Seeing it in print was like having to live through the trauma all
over again. It was an unsettling rewind.
The project was placed on the
back burner, with the knob in the “off” position until Amanda Sue felt
emotionally ready to release it. That time is now. She has agreed to move
forward with the book project, and the names and locations have been changed to
protect the privacy of all parties involved.
Dead Flowers for Hollywood takes the reader through Amanda Sue’s younger days
and then proceeds through the succession of disastrous marriages. There is a
lesson to be learned from the astounding story that Amanda Sue shares.
Hopefully, this memoir will help others learn to watch for red flags, pray
about it, and get to really know their intended spouses before becoming
financially, physically, emotionally and legally entangled via matrimony. Even
under the best of circumstances, people can change and become someone you feel
as though you never really knew. A special thank you to Amanda Sue Rose for
sharing her story. It was my privilege to facilitate the publication of book.
Will Amanda Sue discard the
negative effects of a series of catastrophic marriages and exchange wedding
bands for the fifth time? You will have to read this tale of multiple weddings to
find out!
Links to purchase are:
Paperback-Preferred link
LINK TO CREATESPACE E-STORE:
Paperback and Kindle link
Nook link
Stop on by at our newly designed website at http://www.awriterspresence.com!
Much love and blessings,
Mary Anne Benedetto
