EARLY LIFE:
I was born and given the name Linda June – Aggie L. Jae is my pen name, given to me by my two grandsons — on a pretty, rain-showery day in the month of April, 1955 in Pottstown Pennsylvania. I was my parents first child and remained so until my first sister was born four years later.
During my first four years, I had my parents to myself, especially my father who did everything with me. Dad and I would play games, listen to music and sing songs. He would take me on adventures through the woods and teach me things about the different animals and how to respect the environment. He taught me how to identify the many kinds of trees and plants. He taught me to listen to and remember all the beautifully unique bird songs. He also taught me how to find my way in the woods by looking at the sun to know what direction I needed to go to find my way home. Dad was amazing.
When I wasn’t at home with my parents, I stayed on my grandparents’ farm. My grandmother was wonderful and she loved me very much. She was full of fun and laughter. She was busy all the time and I followed her around as she was gathering eggs, cooking in her kitchen, cleaning her house, or mowing grass.
Sometimes, while I was at the farm, I would take long walks to my favorite place in the nearby woods. That place was a large boulder where I would sit and imagine all sorts of fantastic things. I was pretty much allowed to roam all over most of the farm, but I was never allowed to go into the springhouse, where fresh spring water flowed out of the ground all the time. The old shed that protected the spring was very old and it was filled with wasps and snakes. It wasn’t a safe place for a kid to be!
I was an okay student in school, but I loved English class and I especially enjoyed reading adventure books. While I was in third grade, I received an A+ on a poem. From then on, I was hooked on writing. I wrote all kinds of stuff from stories to letters to my Japanese pen pal, but mostly poems. As I got older, I wrote some plays and a musical.
When I was sixteen, I tried out for a part in my friend, David’s, musical, Give the Little Girl a Great Big Hand. I got the part and a star was born! I participated in every chorus group and stage play until, as a senior, I landed the role of Golde, the female lead part in Fiddler on the Roof, with my dear friend David as Tevye.
After graduation I participated in a few summer stock productions, but I was also working a full-time job. The excitement for the stage dwindled. However, I was not to be deterred. I became a professional model and took my training into the YWCA where I taught self-improvement classes for women and directed a teen girl class in local schools called the Y-Teens.
In 1977, I got married and as the years passed, I had three children. A daughter and two sons. When my husband died, I supported my little family by working as a waitress for many years. In 1993, I met and married my current husband. We have been together for almost 30 years. During those years we owned a restaurant and bred Arabian horses for racing. Recently, my husband has been managing country clubs and I became a Licensed Massage Therapist. However, all was not happy.
In 2013, our daughter lost her life to opioid addiction. My world was devasted. I knew I had to do something to heal myself and my family.
I started to write a book. At first, I called it, Stay Out of the Springhouse, but that title quickly changed to become The Water Door. As I wrote, I pulled all my memories of my grandparent’s farm from the archives of every one of my braincells. I also recalled everything I had learned in school, especially English class and all the fascinating things I learned in science class. I figured if the surface of our planet Earth is about 75 percent water and the human body is about 65 percent, why not create a connection? So, I did. I created a hydro-portal – a water door into a wormhole in space. To access the wormhole, you had to have a special gene in your DNA in order to dissolve your body into the hydro-portal that would take you to another planet and back again.
I worked hard and long, and as I wrote I shared the story with my family. It really helped us heal our hearts and our lives.
Now, after eight years, The Water Door is ready to go!
I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing for you!
