Deborah Raider Notis is the mother of four boys, ranging in age from 21 to 14. She and her husband, James, have lived in Pleasantville, New York for over 16 years. Nine years ago, Deborah, and her business partner, Marilyn Rifkin, started GAMECHANGER NOW, Westchester’s answer to academic match-making which offers the most personalized process for connecting families to academic, music, and art tutors, as well as certified college counselors, interview prep specialists, and resume building specialists. The company helps families from preschool through post-college, simplifying every step of their journey. In addition to connecting families to these hard-to-find resources. The website at www.gamechangernow.com has an informative, entertaining blog with information about family life, education, and navigating academia. Many of these blog posts were written by Deborah.
Deborah has been writing for newspapers, magazines, and blogs since the early 1990’s on topics ranging from home golf courses and online dating to Rhodes Scholars and college campuses during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is currently working with her agent, Barbara Rosenblatt at 22MediaWorks, to publish her children’s book, Shipwrecked on Fudgepop Island. This book, written with her 14-year-old son, is loosely based on a story that Deborah wrote in third grade with her father, Stanley Raider. Additionally, Deborah has kept her own writing journal since high school, jotting down thoughts, collecting quotes and articles, and writing her own short essays, poems, and stories. In 2017, she moved her thoughts, essays, and short stories online, creating her blog, The Purge Chick. The Purge Chick is a collection of essays on family, friendship, and funny, heartfelt perspectives on life.
From Deborah’s Purge Chick: “In the Blink of an Eye”
There are days that I still think that I am 22. Really. Maybe it is the delusion of old age. Maybe it is emotional survival. Maybe it is that everything after 22 happened in the blink of an eye. And then there is today.
Today, my college roommates messaged me to reminisce about the olden days in our decrepit dorm. We talked about boys who are now men. Inside jokes that still make us chuckle. Familiar places that no longer exist. Parties at which we lingered until dawn. People whom we no longer know, some of whom are no longer with us. At the time, every moment seemed incredibly important, utterly vital to our everyday existence. Yet it was all so incredibly fleeting, and now these moments are simply memories. Mostly fond memories with people who will mostly hold a special place in our hearts.
And then it hit me. My child will be leaving my home in about a year. I will have a child who is around that age. I cannot be that age, because I will have a child who will be leaving our home and starting a new life without me, without his father, without his brothers. A life that will consume him, a life that could take priority over his life in our home.
And then it hit me. My child will move into a dorm room and meet people who will have some sort of, hopefully positive, imprint on his life. A child who will be meeting people with whom he will forever share the bond of college. He will visit new places, make new memories without us, and start his separate life.
And then it hit me. Twenty some odd years from now, he will communicate with his college roommates and reminisce about familiar ….
Read more from Notis at https://thepurgechick.wordpress.com/
