This was a fast and fun read.
About the only thing I didn’t like about “Sibyl Rights,” a memoir by Glen Haven resident Sibyl Gardner, was the political rant at the end. It surprised me.
The book describes the author’s life and journey from New York to Los Angeles, from Longmont to Glen Haven.
Part of her journey, too, involved moving from party-girl mentality to motherhood. Finding sobriety and God. Finding her writing voice. And her political voice.
She had many different jobs connected to the Hollywood entertainment industry including as a writer and producer for the TV show “Law and Order.”
She tells her life story until the end when she becomes political. The shift in tone and style was unexpected.
Sibyl came to my memoir-writing class at the Estes Park Community Center earlier this year to talk about her book, which one of my students, Phil Zwart, read and loved.
Here’s what he had to say about it in a letter to Sibyl:
“I read a lot of memoirs, mostly well-known people. Especially enjoy it when I feel that the author is being candid and straightforward. Your book made me feel that way. It was a very good read for me.
“Your method of mostly very short chapters worked well. Made for easy reading and kept things moving. But I sure enjoyed the long chapter about going to China to get Zoe. I learned a lot about China. You touched me when talking about finally realizing your love for Zoe after a day or so.
“Thanks for coming to our class and for writing such a good book,” Phil wrote.
I agree with Phil. The best part of her book was her description of going to China to adopt a baby girl, Zoe.
Zoe is now an adult in her twenties training to become a commercial pilot.
Gardner moved from Los Angeles to Colorado in 2014, first to Longmont so both her daughters could finish high school, and then to family property in Glen Haven.
“In 2015 I tore down the old cabin and built the house that I now live in. I didn’t move full-time till a couple of years ago. I had to get my kids off to college. Now I’m a year-rounder. Living in a little community is nothing like my former city life,” she wrote.
How is that working out?
“I am grateful to God for everything in my life and wouldn’t trade this life for any city in the world,” she wrote.