Kelly Klepfer – Real Life Romance – Part 1 of 2

Shannon here: Kelly Klepfer shares insight into her real life romance, plus a chance to win Cozy Romantic Mystery title, Out of the Frying Pan. Comment or answer the question at the end of any post dated Nov 17 – 20 to enter the drawing. Deadline: Nov 26th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Kelly:

Walking a Minute in My Shoes
This romantic gesture story may leave you scratching your head and looking for the love. Maybe I’m just easy. One of those girls who takes a grunt as a form of flirtation. But I think at least someone else out there will get this.
I had a horrible dream shortly after bringing our second baby into the world. Our town has a viaduct, which is a bridge that crosses over a lot of industrial buildings and rail yards. We also live across a bridged river from a large city and travel the eight miles pretty frequently to get there.
In my dream there was a slick of ice on the viaduct and I attempted to stop but as I realized I couldn’t I also became aware that this road was over the river, the choppy, swirling, swollen winter river. The bridge had cracked and a looming hole was right ahead. In slow motion our car plunged over the side and crashed into the raging water. I immediately rushed to save my babies, I got the newborn out, and was working on the carseat of the three-year-old when I felt the water climbing like icy death up my legs. I woke up when it reached the bottom of his seat and I was still fumbling with the latch. That was 32 years ago and I still remember the horror and the dread. Did I mention it was a real bad dream?  
Of course I’ve never been more grateful to wake up in my life.
But an anxiety grabbed hold of my heart. I had never been fearful on that level before and suddenly I quit driving over the real bridge that crossed the real river. I could ride with others but I planned our escape the entire time it took to drive the length of the bridge and began holding my breath over the river.
One day my husband came home from work. He gave me a hug. “Hey, I timed how long it takes to cross over the river. The whole thing takes less than a minute.”
I started to cry. The idea he cared enough to not only listen to me while I processed my nightmare and the reality that we were responsible for two little, innocent lives but he actually timed the section that fired my fear.
I no longer have anxiety with that bridge and the process of letting that go began the day my husband told me he loved me by spending less than a minute in my shoes.
About Kelly: Kelly Klepfer had ambitions to graduate from the school of life quite awhile ago, but alas . . . she still attends and is tested regularly. Her co-authored cozy/quirky mystery, Out of the Frying Pan, is the culmination of several of the failed/passed tests. Kelly, though she lives with her husband, two Beagles and two hedgehogs in Iowa, can be found at Novel Rocket, Novel Reviews, Scrambled Dregs, Modern Day Mishaps, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter with flashes of brilliance (usually quotes), randomocities, and learned life lessons. Zula and Fern Hopkins and their shenanigans can be found at Zu-fer where you always get more than you bargained for.
About the book – Out of the Frying Pan: When the chef of Sunset Paradise Retirement Village ends up dead, life for sisters Fern and Zula Hopkins is whipped into a froth. Their zany attempts to track down the killer land them in hot water with Detective Jared Flynn. Should he be concerned about their safety or the criminal’s?
But there are deadly ingredients none of them expect. Drugs. Extortion. International cartels. And worst of all…broken hearts–especially when the Hopkins sisters’ niece KC arrives on the scene.
Before the snooping pair gain any headway with the case, it becomes crystal clear that the sisters discover a mysterious secret that takes life from the frying pan and into the line of fire.
Question for Readers: What is your greatest fear?

Come back Nov 21st for Kelly’s Peanut Butter Fudge Pie Recipe!

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