Well, until recently I would have said nothing.  Now I know better!

Posted by Ron

I was watching Doctor Who a while ago and realized I recognized the music that was playing.  The episode was “The Doctor Dances” and the music was one of the big bands from the 1940s.  When the music ended on the TV it continued in my head.  I realized I recognized the song “In The Mood” and even the band leader, Glenn Miller.

Gayle and I recently saw Queensryche in concert.  I’m sure not many of you know that group but in our Discover days we enjoyed their song “Silent Lucidity.”  Boy, were we surprised when the concert began.

Let me digress.  Why?  Because this is one of those times when I understand why I have been successful in maintaining an age-gap relationship.  Let’s go back to the 1940s.  Remember, I was born in 1942.  I certainly listened to the big band music my older siblings danced to in our living room.  When the 1950s rolled around Chuck Barry and Elvis and Jerry Lee and Johnny Mathis and other 1950s “rockers” came into my life.  I have to admit I was not an Elvis fan, but many others became my favorites.  I particularly remember that Johnny Mathis sang my first “our song.”  It was The Twelfth of Never.  I also got to suffer the teenage angst of the night the music died; when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens died in a plane crash in 1959.

I don’t remember too much of the sixties music because I was busy protecting our country in the Navy (I actually worked in an office) and getting my bachelor’s degree in Accounting.  I do, however, remember fondly the music of Iron Butterfly and The Doors.  I’ve even visited Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris twice.

This continued through the seventies and eighties and nineties, and etc.  I’ve talked about being willing to change in order to maintain an age-gap (or any) relationship.  In this particular case change came because I was willing to listen to music, hear the message and enjoy the beats.  My mom and dad were convinced that rock and roll would rot our brains.  I think there are parents today that feel the same way about 21st century rock or rap music.  But have they listened to the music?  I doubt it.

I don’t listen to nearly as much music as Gayle.  She knows a whole lot more than I about who is popular and who is singing what.  That doesn’t much matter to me.  I just listen.  I’m rarely sure who it is, but I don’t listen unless I like it.  You know what?  I love today’s music, regardless of who is singing it.  The music is all that’s necessary.

So, what do you think Sally Rand and Eminem have in common?  Music!  Why does that matter?  Because Queensryche had a show that we never expected.  It included Cirgue d’Soleil type acts, ballet, a stripper and a fan dancer.  (For those of you who don’t know, Sally Rand was a fan dancer.)  And included in all of that mayhem was Queensryche, singing some really great hard rock.  And how does Eminem fit into this blog?  He represents the pinnacle of my evolution in the arena of the music I like.  I would have never listened to him had Gayle not become interested a few years ago.  I started with Glenn Miller and Stan Kenton and have evolved to Eminem and Queensryche.  At some point that night Gayle turned to me and asked “what are we doing here?”  The answer is very simple.  As Geoff Tate, the lead singer said, we were there to “celebrate the music.”

I celebrate the life I find in the music.  I celebrate the change I find in me because I enjoy today’s music when many folks my age don’t understand it.  I celebrate my willingness to not be old.  I celebrate the fact that an age-gap relationship is just the norm to me.  Age, after all, does not make a relationship, just like it does not make a song or a popular singer.  Celebrate your life and hear all of the music that gives it your soundtrack.  Johnnie Mathis anyone?

Any True Blood fans out there?  In the books Elvis never went away; he just became a vampire.  He has not appeared in the HBO series yet and maybe that’s best.  In the books he was “made” as a vampire after his brain had begun to deteriorate.  They call him Bubba in the books.  That should tell you something.

By the way, Queesnrych didn’t even sing Silent Lucidity!

Apparently Gayle and I do!

(Posted by Ron)

Hey there everyone.  Did we fall off the face of the earth?   Not exactly, but sometimes it feels like that.  In fact, we took a hiatus from the blog so that we could spend the time preparing agent query letters and book proposals.  Next will be sample chapters.  Yes, it’s time to finally get to writing this book we’ve been talking about for so long.

It’s funny how agents don’t think like me.  I believe this May-December topic is so important and timely that literary agents should be falling all over themselves to represent us.  It doesn’t seem to be this way – yet that is.  We have learned something about rejection letters, however.  They run the gamut from no response at all, to “It’s intriguing, but I’m not wild about it, and  to “thanks, but that’s not what I’m focusing on right now.”  The last agent rejection letter tells us that (at least some) agents actually read our query.

She had some very thoughts for us to consider as we continue our search.  The one that really stuck with me is that we need an agent who is passionate about our May-December subject and us as authors.  Makes sense to me.

Today I needed to see my work in print somewhere; blogging seemed like a good idea. We know you are out there. You continue to come to the blog whether we have an agent or not!   We know you are interested and are looking for guidance in your relationships.

So, dear readers, thank you for hanging around even when new material was not forthcoming.  We appreciate your interest.  We’ve even gotten some agent information from a few of our clients/friends/readers.  Before I bring this short note to a close let me say this.  There are some of you who know literary agents.  Some of you may even be agents.  If anything in this blog has been of interest or help to you , please let those agents know about us or  tell us about them.  We will be happy to make the contact.  You can email any such information to me at ron@maydecembersecrets.com.  I’ll be glad to take it from there.  In the meantime, fingers crossed we keep moving forward.  Just like we do in our relationship – one day at a time.