Preserving Freedom" by Suzanne Cottrell & Deborah Forbes
– “Let’s face it. We’re lost.”
Our speech is breathy, our lips are parched, and our tongues are like sandpaper.
Suzanne Cottrell, a Buckeye by birth, lives with her husband in rural Granville County, North Carolina, where she’s a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and the Taste Life Twice Writers. She’s the author of a hybrid book, Nature Calls Outside My Window, A Collection of Poems and Stories, and three poetry chapbooks (Kelsay Books). A retired teacher, outdoor enthusiast, and nature lover, she enjoys monthly misadventures with her best friend Deborah Forbes, her co-author of “Preserving Freedom.” Besides writing, Suzanne enjoys reading, researching, knitting, and Pilates. www.suzanneswords.com.
Deborah Forbes, a retired educator, lives in eastern North Carolina with her husband and their Greater Swiss Mountain puppy. She enjoys fitness, gardening, needlework, reading, and video calls with her granddaughters. This is her first published piece, marking an exciting new chapter in her life. After retiring, Suzanne and Deborah rekindled their friendship, beginning monthly adventures. Suzanne’s encouragement and guidance have been instrumental in Deborah’s journey as a writer, offering patience, knowledge, and unwavering support. Though still learning, Deborah hopes this piece will be the foundation for more stories to come.
Authors’ Talk
Every month Deborah and I, former college roommates, sorority sisters, and best friends, get together for an outing. We especially enjoy hiking in North Carolina nature preserves and parks. Deborah and I appreciate the beauty and serenity of nature, as well as the freedom from our busy lives and technology. Also, we’re grateful for the time together-to talk, to vent, to commiserate, and to laugh.
When Randell Jones announced the theme “Free” for the next Personal Story Publishing Project’s anthology, I immediately thought about our hike in Glennstone Nature Preserve, located north of Durham, North Carolina. Instead of writing the story myself, I asked Deborah to write it with me. After all, we shared this misadventure plus two minds would be better than one. Deborah agreed to tackle the writing endeavor although unsure if she would be a help or a hindrance. Since we’re both former educators, I had no doubt we would assist each other in telling our story. We collaborated via e-mails, texts, phone calls, and over lunch. We even returned to the Glennstone Nature Preserve to double check the names of the trails and area roads, and hopefully figure out how we became disoriented the first time. This time we were more attentive and carried water bottles, plus the trails were better indicated with color-coded circles painted on the tree trunks. Although we strive to escape society’s modern conveniences, such as our cell phones, when hiking, now we are much quicker to resort to GPS when our location becomes questionable, a valuable and humbling lesson learned. We admit to our skill deficit in orienteering.
Given our long friendship, our mutual respect for, and trust of each other, determining which details to include, how to reorganize sentences, and which words to replace was give-and-take. As we revised our story, we appreciated Randell Jones’s guidance and suggestions. Writing our creative nonfiction story was a rewarding learning and further bonding experience. We sought to take readers on our emotional hike. By sharing our story, we encourage people to get outdoors and create their memorable adventures, but if it becomes a misadventure, laugh about it and cherish the memories you make. No outing goes without a little glitch, especially ours, making them much more memorable.—Suzanne Cottrell
