2 Broads Abroad: Moms Fly the Coop
by Deborah Serra and Nancy
Serra Greene
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GENRE: Nonfiction, Motherhood,
Travel Memoir
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BLURB:
When sisters, Deborah & Nancy, discovered that
motherhood was a temp job they decided to run away from home. After packing up
that last kid for college, and facing the sad stillness of their suddenly quiet
homes, they decided to leave the country. 2 BROADS ABROAD: MOMS FLY THE COOP is
a funny, irreverent, occasionally poignant travel tale of their impulsive road
trip around Ireland.
In this witty warm-hearted adventure, they experienced some of Ireland’s
quirkier history while sharing universally relatable stories of maniacal school
coaches, neurotic neighbors, and tiger moms. Having kicked that empty nest into
their rearview mirror, the sisters took off careening down the wrong side of
the road, making questionable choices, getting trapped in a medieval tower,
sneaking Chinese take-out into a famous cooking school, drinking way too much,
and gaining a changed perspective on their lives ahead.
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Excerpt One:
“Your youngest is leaving for college? Aw, empty nest?” Then, sappy eyes followed by a plaintive grin
and, “What will you do?”
Before my sister and I decided to run away from home we were
bothered by that question. There was
something minimizing about it, minimizing and not completely untrue. Motherhood
had been so deceptive, the greatest paradox in life: every single bleary-eyed
day felt a month long, and the years went by in an instant. They flashed by
like lightning and left a desiccated scorch mark wearing my clothes. It was disagreeable to imagine what life
would be like childless: there would be
the family tree, and there would be the mom who’s the center of the family
tree, standing leafless, bare (and it has been a while since I looked good
bare). There was some solace as I glanced around me to see my younger sister,
Nancy, would be standing there bare as well.
We were embarking on this progeny-shedding calamity simultaneously as
both of our youngest daughters, Nicole and Olivia, were leaving for college the
same week.
I knew that Nancy hadn’t really focused on it yet. And then, we met at Fashion Island in Newport
Beach near her home to get a birthday gift for our mom. We ran into two of
Nancy’s neighbors, Vicki and Susan.
“Nancy,” Vicki asked, “doesn’t Nicole graduate from Corona
Del Mar High School this June?”
“Yes,” Nancy said.
“She’s going to the University of Washington.”
“Oh,” Susan lifted her eyebrows, “you must be devastated.”
“What?” Nancy looked
confused. “No, actually I was happy for
her. She worked really hard. It was her
first choice school.”
“But so far away!” Susan added in that annoying singsong
tone.
Nancy shifted her feet, a move I knew well as her
sister. It was something she always did
when she was being told something she did not like to hear.
“It’s not that far.” Nancy said.
“It’s a plane ride. You need an airplane to see your daughter.”
Susan said loudly.
“Yeah.” Nancy turned
to me in an effort to change the subject. “You remember my sister, Deborah?”
“Of course.” Vicki smiled.
And we exchanged hellos. Vicki
seemed normal, but I had an inkling that I might have to slap Susan.
Susan continued on with her one thought. “With your son gone
already, and soon Nicole, well, Nancy, I guess you’re all alone now.”
Nancy shifted her feet again. “I’m still married, Susan.”
“Sure. Sure. Right.
So that’s better than nothing, huh?”
Nancy and I both froze.
Did she just say that?
“You know,” Vicki tried to cut off Susan, “when Terrie’s
youngest left she bought a Chihuahua puppy.
Cutest thing you’ve ever seen.
And the Walkers gave a room to an exchange student from Sweden,” she explained
happily.
Nancy nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.”
Susan opened her mouth to speak again and I wasn’t sure
whether I should just smack her now and be done with it, or let her
continue. I made the wrong choice.
“Remember Pam Winthrop?” Susan leaned in. “When her son left
she started eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s every day until she put on 60
pounds. Sad, really, tragic. Even her kneecaps were fat.” Then Susan turned to
me, “So, Deborah, isn’t your youngest graduating, too?”
“I’m leaving the country,” I said.
Susan cocked her head. “What?”
“I’m leaving the country,” I repeated matter-of-factly.
“So am I,” Nancy said. I looked at her. I saw the decision in her eyes. “I’m going
with Deborah. We’re taking a long trip
together – a sisters trip.”
“You are?” Susan sounded a little thwarted, which Nancy
found gratifying.
“Yup, in the planning stages.” Nancy smiled at Susan who was
clearly disappointed that we were not miserable as anticipated. “Nice to see you though, Susan, Vicki. Got to go. In the middle of booking flights
and stuff. So much to do!”
We turned away and strode with purpose toward the door.
I whispered, “Susan’s a real gem.”
“She did me a favor.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been so busy I just wasn’t thinking about it.”
“And I haven’t been able to think about anything else,” I
said. “When I’m awake in the middle of
the night it runs over and over in my mind.”
Nancy said, “When I heard that crap Susan was dealing, all
of a sudden I realized, there’s no way am I plodding into that sunset with fat
kneecaps carrying a Chihuahua.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Deborah
Serra has been a sought-after screenwriter for twenty-five years having written
for NBC, CBS, Sony, Lifetime, Fox, and others. She was a recipient of the 2012
Hawthornden Literary Fellowship. Her first novel was a semi-finalist for the
William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Award given by the Faulkner
Society in New Orleans, LA.
Nancy
is a graduate of San Diego State University. She worked in medical sales before
stepping away to raise her two children, at which point she became: Team Mom,
Snack Mom, PTA member, Assistance League Volunteer, and the list is
never-ending. Nancy was the editor and publisher of the Buffalo Hills Echo
newsletter with a circulation of 1400. She also designed and managed her
community website.
Buy Link:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/2_BroadsAbroad
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INTERVIEW
Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
I haven’t had an imaginary friend, but I did know a girl
when I was growing up who had a roomful of them. She was an only child and
wanted siblings so she invented them. Looking back now I can’t decide whether
she was fantastically creative or schizophrenic – either way, she was my
favorite friend.
Do you have any phobias?
My sister and I both have phobias. Deborah is afraid of deep water and it’s
quite a challenge to get her on a boat, but to her credit she has done it. I have night terrors, which started when I
was sixteen years old. Before we left on our Ireland road trip about which our
book 2 BROADS ABROAD: Moms Fly the Coop is
written, my husband pulled Deborah aside and warned her about it. She was still
mortified when it happened – read that part of our book at the Shelbourne Hotel
in Dublin - it’s hilarious.
Do you listen to music when you're writing?
Deborah and I work as a team. So we do not listen to music while working we
just try to listen to each other – that’s challenging enough!
Do you ever read your stories out loud?
I do not read out loud.
My husband reads everything out loud. I can hear him downstairs in the
kitchen every morning reading the paper while he is having breakfast. When
Deborah and I did our first public reading at Barnes & Noble for 2 BROADS ABROAD: Moms Fly the Coop, I
had to read a passage out loud to an audience and that was a new thing for me.
I was startled when the audience laughed and I lost my place on the page. I
hadn’t expected it. I’ve read it so many times while we were editing that it
had lost its humor for me. It was surprising and really nice.
Tell us about your main character and who inspired him/her.
2 Broads Abroad is
a nonfiction travel memoir, so the main characters are my sister and me. I suppose I can’t really think of us as
characters – just two women, sisters, and friends, who were lonely when their
kids left home, decided to drive wildly down the wrong side of the road in a
strange country, laughing too much, visiting a lot of Irish pubs, and telling
each other stories about raising our kids.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Deborah Serra and Nancy Serra Greene will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
