As women serving in Vietnam we contributed and extracted what we could from an unbelievably bizarre year's tour of duty. It was beyond uncommon. Our emotions took a beating from the intensity and peculiarity of our positions, and it was those emotions that would form the indelible mirage -- a reflection in the here and now of a reality far removed.

When we were growing up, one of the hard and fast rules of our house was that we were not allowed to say, “Shut up.”

Someone recently asked me who was my favorite character in the Scrooge books, and I honestly didn’t have one. I probably “know” Scrooge, himself, the best of any of them, but I know them all pretty well, by now.

My love of England goes back generations.

“The Scrooge Years” showcases a man who is becoming a very different person from the self-centered and ruthless businessman in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The trilogy spans three years following his reformation and brings many changes to Ebenezer Scrooge’s personality and his circumstances.

Hello. I’m Judy La Salle, or what’s left of her as we approach the end of 2020! Welcome to my site, where I talk about whatever comes to mind. I have also showcased my three books in “The Scrooge Years Trilogy,” as well as the handbook, “Promises for Peace Officers.”

This post is about me, if you’re interested.

Excerpt from page 235:

The puzzle that began a few weeks ago had almost been Scrooge’s undoing. In fact, he was not yet convinced it hadn’t been, since there were times he felt his reason was hanging by a thread. For all of its convolutions, it had begun so simply. He had attended a party and met a woman he truly admired from the time of their introduction.

Excerpt from page 83:

Duff jumped up and cried, “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong! I told you b’fore, I run a ‘onest game and I didn’t know nothin’ ‘bout no body in me boat!” He had heard enough and was not going to pay the price for something he did not do. With that, he glared at Wigley, pointed his index finger close to his face and demanded, “Tell ‘em! You tell ‘em what you jus’ told’ me. Do it!”

Excerpt from page 219:

One dance with Miss Willard was enough for most men to decide against her. She talked incessantly but had no wit, and she often left men’s shoes scuffed from the soles of her own as she stepped lively all over their feet! Only one time was Scrooge trapped into a dance with her, and he vowed such a thing would never again come about.

A sample Scripture verse for:

When You Are Called to Testify in Court

“Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” Jeremiah 1: 8-9

When I was in the fourth grade at Ashview Elementary school I had an accident that taught me the importance of always doing the best you can for the other person. I learned it because I was the other person.

Be careful when you wonder how or why people do certain things that you can’t imagine doing yourself. You might wind up doing them, someday.

Our lives have defining moments, and my year in Vietnam was certainly one of those.