About Me

Lisa Kurtz

Aspiring Author

Everyone has a story.

I’ve led a fairly ordinary life. Raised in the Midwest, one of five children. I’m the fourth and the youngest girl. I was lucky enough to have my parents stay together, although there were times we had our doubts. I’m also lucky, so very lucky and blessed to have my brothers and sisters. We all fought growing up, like typical siblings do, but I know they are always there for me if and when I need them.

I’ve been married to my husband Mark for 27 years and we have two wonderful adult children. Mark is an animal lover and hard worker and has always supported the things I’ve pursued. My daughter, Audrey is my best friend and totally gets me. I can tell her all my quirky thoughts and she understands, and if she doesn’t – she inquires and probes and challenges. She also calls me out on my crap when I need it. My son Adam can make me laugh out loud at the drop of a hat. He also likes to tease me mercilessly! Sometimes, I have to look him dead in the eye and say, Enough!

I have worked in the medical field since I was 20. For 36 years I worked within a great cardiology practice and learned so much. I started out in the administrative side and eventually went back to school and began gaining all my clinical experience. I truly grew up while working in that practice and have made some life-long friends. I recently decided to change course and am now back on the administrative side as a Patient Advocate, working with a Rock Star team! Their support and encouragement as I’ve made this transition has warmed my heart.

The picture on the home page is a view from my parents home on a lake in Indiana. It was taken by my dad early in the morning just as the sun was coming up. They had the property for 30 years, 28 years together before my father’s passing. I did not grow up there, but I fondly think of it as the “home base” of my parents. All their grandchildren were born while they lived in that home, and we have so many memories of Christmases, cook-outs, birthdays and just plain family time there. When I look at that picture it takes me to a happy place in my mind and I can feel my parents love.

A little more of my story: my father’s death in 2013 was the beginning of me seeking, searching, stretching. I’ve always been a reader, mostly of novels. I began reading books that were more about life: our inner world of thoughts and feelings and emotions, how we think and why we behave the way we do, and the importance of connection. I also discovered one of my favorite words – Paradox. Oh my, that was a game changer. I believe we all have within us good and evil, we are sane and crazy, smart and ignorant, loving and mean. All contradictory with each other. I feel like I’ve emotionally grown up more in the years since my dad’s death than all the years before that. It’s been quite the ride, let me tell you.

Sometimes in a person’s life there is a turning point. Some circumstance or event that changes their life forever. The life before and the life after. Mine was my dad’s death. It was expected. Cancer. Helping take care of him at the end was both excruciating and beautiful. I will always feel like it was an honor to do that. But nothing ever completely prepares a child to lose their parent. After he passed away, my mother slowly changed. We didn’t know it at the time, but she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. That is one nasty disease! It robs you of your loved one long before their physical body is gone. After my dad died, I’ve often said that we lost the essence of our mom, too. And then in 2020, nine days before her 81^st birthday, my mom died suddenly, unexpectedly. We’ll never know for sure, but her death certificate said cardiac arrest. As horrible as that was, she went the way she wanted to, quick and painless. And she died before the dementia ravaged her memory of us. She still knew her children. She could still express her love for us. For that we will always be thankful. And we also knew she was with my dad. Resting in that assurance was a balm to my heart – my parents were together once again.

I also decided to pursue a dream I’ve had – to write a story. In 2012 I took a creative writing class. I did a short story and sent it to my parents. They were involved in a grief group and my father read the story to them. Their response was very positive. After my dad’s death I thought about turning that little story into a book, thus became The Letters. Losing both of my parents, meeting grief in an “in your face” kind of way, gave me some raw material to work with. It only took me seven more years to complete. And then another year to edit and re-edit and then edit again. The Letters is a story of love and grief, and then love again.

So, that is my story, and the story of how my first book was born.

Everyone has a story. I’d love to hear yours.