We were standing in Page and Palette book store – and this bookstore is what made me travel all the way from the Pennsylvania to this small town called Fairhope. The bookstore is what first interested me, as I planned my Seeking Southern Charm book tour. And is there any place more Southern than Alabama? (I’m asking this as a Midwestern/Yankee – because it just seems like Alabama is as Southern as it gets). Fairhope is somewhat of a creatives haven (I’d read), and Alfred from the bookstore told me that there are more writers in the town of Fairhope than there are books!
Anyway, let me back up a moment.
When I got to Fairhope, I was really down. I was a bit exhausted. I was doubting the decision to take the trip. And I was so far from home. And Tropical Storm Bertha was headed our way.
Perhaps I should just leave early, I had thought. I was doing so much sightseeing on this trip that by the time I returned to my various Airbnb’s along the way, I was hot, sweaty, exhausted, and in no mind to write. That made me wonder, also, am I even a writer if I’m literally on this trip to write and my mind puts up detour signs and road blocks and begs me to rest?
And that was my mind frame that Tuesday morning, July 21. I’d sat on the small beach of the bay and talked to my daughter and questioned everything and she said firmly: give it time! Slow your brain. Just enjoy it! Stop always trying to have the next steps mapped out!
I felt a bit better after our conversation and left the bay to go to Page and Palette bookstore.
I was so excited. Some people get excited over war monuments, or beach towns (I do love a beach town, not gonna lie) but I get excited over awesome bookstores! This bookstore has a bar, a coffee shop, a stage for music/readings, and…plot twist…a Yoga studio upstairs! I mean, c’mon, amazing! E. Shavers in Savannah (both locations) and Page and Palette are the most interesting bookstores I’ve been in my whole entire life (and y’all, I love a bookstore).
So I walk into the café section, accidentally cut in line in front of a young gentleman (he was sitting in a chair and I just thought he was waiting for his friend who was ordering). But when he stood up behind me, I realized my error. I apologized profusely (damn Yankee!) but he was gracious and when I stepped behind him, he insisted I go first. Southern Charm, y’all!!!!!
I take my drink (Diet Coke with lemon, boring yes, but crispy and refreshing!), and as I turn around, I see 2 ladies sitting under a large cut out frame that says “Advice, 5 cents!”
Remember Charlie Brown? Remember how Lucy used to have an advice booth? It was just like that, only these ladies were much kinder than Lucy ever was.
I almost didn’t stop.
But I knew I had to.
After all, they were offering advice and I sure could use some.
It was like a tarot reading (did one of those in Savannah at the Farmer’s Market!) but instead of using Tarot cards, they were using cards called “The Virtue Project.” Which is incredible because virtue (real virtue, not performative virtue) was a thread throughout Sorry Bob!
The older woman behind the booth introduced herself as Sonya and the woman sitting next to her, Lila.
Sonya asked me to think of a question or problem and pull a card.
I pulled the Flexibility card. Which advised me to remain open, adapt when needed, find creative ways to solve problems, and accept the things I can’t change.
It was…kismet, serendipity, a sign from the universe. Breathe. You got this. And one thing I have done really well all my life is to seek creative solutions. I needed this reminder.
After my reading, the ladies started chatting with me and I told them I was an author. Lila perked up and formerly introduced herself to me as Lila Marie Pennington Ryals. She was 94 and told me she’d written a book about her life called “What Would Mamma Do?” Her mom died when she was 9 and her and her younger brother, Buddy, were left on their own. The people she thought she could trust ended up betraying them and the man that helped them the most, well, he ended up being a German Spy!
Unfortunately, the bookstore had run out of copies, but she had some at her home and insisted I stop by her cottage where I could buy a book and have a chitchat. Lila had more mental clarity than I had on a good day!
She said, “Put my address in your phone! I’ll watch to make sure you get it right!” And so she watched as I typed in her address.
“When should I stop by?”
“Well, I’m on my porch every morning at 5 drinking my coffee,” she said.
It was only my second day in Alabama, and I had been invited to a sweet strangers house! It felt surreal, as if I was on a tv show and someone was going to jump out and prank me. But it was no prank. It was just Fairhope, Alabama!
I promised her I would stop by, just not sure when.
Tropical Storm Bertha was on the way. I’d never been in the South during a Tropical Storm, so I didn’t know what to expect.
The next morning was gray and the clouds were angry and swollen. I felt time was of the essence. Lila is 94. So I got dressed and made my way into town. What I didn’t expect was that some roads were flooding! Outside of town they were fine. I noticed a few creeks had crested and were now seeping into grassland. I turned around twice. “Turn Around, Don’t Drown!” played over and over in my head. But I also had a voice telling me, “If you don’t do it now, you might never get this opportunity again.”
So, the third and final time, I turned around and headed back to town.
There was a dump truck in front of me and the going was slow.
As I approached the bay beach (there is a name for this and I’ll have to look it up, but for now, it’s the bay beach past the Grand Hotel and before downtown of Historic Fairhope) I noticed big yellow excavators on the sand positioned like soldiers. Then the dump truck turned into the beach and I realized it was loaded with sand!
Ugh. Maybe this storm was going to be more than what it seemed? Maybe this is normal? It was odd because you could be standing 15 minutes outside of town and the sky was blue with dainty white clouds and then you drive into town – into an ominous sky that’s got its arms crossed and giving everyone the side-eye.
But still, I kept going. According to google maps, I was only 7 minutes away!
Lila’s house was just as she described and while she wasn’t sipping on coffee on her front porch, she remembered me and welcomed me warmly into her home.
We talked about her growing up, she told me stories about what happened to her that were not in the book. She was lovely. Energetic and warm. (94!!!)
I bought her book. She also gave me a small stack of bookmarks to hand out (I have been, Lila!).
As I left her cottage, I was amazed that she had such trust in a stranger. She obviously did not watch Dateline in her spare-time like I did. Because, I’m ashamed to admit, I have watched so many crime dramas, read so many crime books, I wondered, “What if this is all a set up? What if I end up in pieces in the bay and the excavators cover up any traces of me that might wash ashore?” This is just the way my mind works. Always looking for a story. An imagination that never stops. I could turn the most boring encounter in a store into something wild in my mind. I think that’s the curse of being a writer. At least, I hope it is…
I left her cottage, excited to read her book. Happy I’d forged ahead despite my misgivings about the weather and my possible murder and felt blessed and grateful. It was such a turnaround from my doubt and fear and moments of panic that I’d had the day before.
I haven't finished her book yet. But I've read enough to know this: when Lila's mother died and the world turned its back on two children, she learned something most of us spend decades avoiding — that trust is a gamble worth taking. She bet on me, a Yankee with a Diet Coke and a head full of crime dramas. The least I can do is tell you about her. So here's the link for What Would Mamma Do. Buy the book! And if you're ever in Fairhope on a Tuesday morning, stop by the Advice Booth at Page and Palette and if you’re lucky, you might get an invitation from a local Legend!
