Introduction Chapter

I feel rather like I am in a car (which I don't know how to drive) and going somewhere I don't know...with the publishing business.  Anyway here are some thoughts on my Introduction:

So how and why did I decide to write a book about Judy? Judy had been in my life since I was about six years old and it had never occurred to me to write a book about her.  Sometimes I feel that life is a path we meander down, people we meet, ideas which are exchanged (rather like the Celestine Prophecy) and suddenly one is doing something which a few months ago would never have occurred to us.  My endeavors to write this book are in this category and I think it is important to document them--well I always need to document everything and so it satisfies a need in me.

            In October 1996; my son and I were in New York State in October for my daughter’s wedding and were spending a few days in Manhattan.  While in a theater shop I notice someone buying a Judy/Carnegie Hall poster--I had one of those once, now lost with many of my Judy cuttings and so I look ruefully at the poster.   The woman who is buying this last copy tells me of the Judy Garland Festival in Grand Rapids the next June and tells me that I should go because it is the celebration of Judy’s 75th birthday.  The guy behind the counter asks us if we have been out to Fernleaf Mausoleum, where Judy is laid to rest.  “No,” I say, “but I always wanted to go”  “Can we find it?” I ask my son.   We are leaving the next day for Monroe which is about fifty miles from Manhattan and it appears we will go past it, that is, if we can find it!   Time is of the essence because we must be in Monroe by 5 p.m. for the wedding festivities to start.   I begin to get very anxious.   “I know we won’t get to Judy,” I wail.  “Oh, yes we will”, my son insists.  It is a beautiful day in New York City, as it only can be in October, and we have Frank Sinatra singing to us about “autumn in New York” as we leave.   We search the map as we drive and suddenly my son, who is driving, sees a small sign “Fernleaf” - I would never have seen it!   We turn quickly and drive through the beautiful grounds.   The video camera is going all this time and, of course, the moment is captured.   I go to the search desk and there are a few people ahead of us.  I expect to feel a fool, asking “Where is Judy Garland?”   But my son rushes up, “I found her, I found her!” and we run through the quiet halls to where she is laid.  Sadly I realized that in the rush to leave I had not brought any flowers, everything had been too unexpected, but there are two poses of flowers there with messages of love.  (I learn later that the UK Fan Club regularly collects money and sends flowers and I always contribute to their fund now.)   We take a few photographs and they ask if I want to be alone, but I just wanted to see it, and I am content.