By Kathy Eliscu
NSNC Member
It was 1986. My mom, Marge Eliscu, brought me and my sister to stifling-hot Norfolk, Virginia, where the NSNC conference was being held. She’d fussed so much about this wonderful organization that we finally gave in. I wondered what could possibly be so great about it. That weekend, Bob Hill, Richard “Des” Ruisseaux, and the rest of the ol’ gang of thieves instantly stole my budding writer’s heart. I laughed so much that I knew I was fated to make NSNC my second family.
During her writing days, Mom won NSNC awards twice, at least, for her much-loved, long-running humor column “Coffee Break” which appeared weekly in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
In 2012, as a magazine and newspaper columnist myself, I won NSNC’s third place in Humor. Well, dang, that was fun! When my name was read aloud in that God-awful Georgia heat (again with the heat?!?), our Chairperson of Fun, renowned Diane Ketcham of NY Times fame, said she thought it was the first time a mother-daughter team had both won NSNC prizes. Then in 2018, with a second-place win, I knew I was keeping the mom-daughter legacy going. Mom had been my mentor, always terrifically supportive. When she died in 2006, I knew she’d be coaching me from afar, in writing and in life lessons.
Fast forward to now. You know that thing that sometimes happens after you’ve lost someone – even years later? For me, it’s that fleeting “Oh – I’ll call Mom.” Except – I can’t. She’s typing a column somewhere in the Great Beyond, and I’m pretty sure Verizon doesn’t have cell towers in Heaven. Yet, this week found me, several times, subconsciously reaching for the phone to call her – then catching myself. I simply wanted to tell her I’d won Honorable Mention in this year’s online category of Crisis Commentary, from our beloved NSNC. I’d been quite surprised by it, as my previous recognitions were in Humor. But this time, with serious writing? Well, this felt quite special.
“The heart expands,” Mom used to say, in various situations of competition. And as fun as it was for my work to be recognized, it was much more than that. See, during the dark times of this past year of 2020, feeling lost, scared, and isolated, NSNC and writing kept me steady on more than one occasion. It gave me purpose and a cushion of, well, love – especially during the regular NSNC Zoom writing space.
Somewhere in 42 boxes stored at my newlywed son and daughter-in-law’s house are Mom’s awards. Two? Three? Way, way back, a few years of records were incomplete, pre-computer. But that doesn’t change the fact that Mom and I made NSNC history. Nor the fact that my new mentor, in all its humor and continuous craft-building, is now the NSNC itself.
Can’t wait ’til NSNC 2022*. Wonder if I can get my daughters to join me.
*The 2022 NSNC conference is scheduled for Birmingham, AL, June 9-11, 2022. Save the ate!
