Decorah author, comedian returns to roots in memoir, life

When Decorah native June Melby was 10 years old, her parents made a big decision: they bought Tom Thumb Mini Golf Course, one of their favorite vacation spots in Wisconsin.

At first, Melby thought spending her summers working at and living on a mini golf course sounded like a dream come true. But she soon realized this new life meant more than free rounds of golf and all the popcorn she could eat.

'This is this big epic adventure that we started,” she said. 'We didn't know how to run a business, didn't know how to wait on people. Everything was breaking. Some of the hazards were made of tin cans.”

It was all-hands on deck, all summer long, and soon young Melby was painting windmills, cleaning water hazards and popping her own popcorn. She details her experiences in her new book, 'My Family and Other Hazards.”

But the book isn't just the story of her childhood adventures. It's also the story of Melby's midlife turning point.

After college (and 12 summers of working the mini golf course), Melby moved to California and made a new life for herself as a stand-up comedian. She was 40 years old, living in and working in Los Angeles, and found herself completely unprepared when her mother called and said they were planning to sell the course.

'I was really completely freaked out when my parents were selling the family business,” she said. 'And I was so surprised that I was freaked out. I think I really had to write the book just to figure out why the heck it mattered to me.”

But she didn't want the book to just focus on her childhood: Melby also wanted to capture her adult contemplations.

'When you write a book, you are really writing the book that you would like to read,” she said. 'And I don't like reading books that are just from a kid's perspective. I'm not a kid. But part of the story happened in those days, so I needed to remember what it was like to look through the eyes of a kid ... and then looking back as an adult and thinking: 'Holy cow, how did we ever survive this?”

Melby also knew she wanted to explore her parents' generosity, a trait which, it turns out, was not the most effective business strategy.

'They tried so hard not to make money. They tried so hard to give the money away,” she said. 'They kept their prices artificially low not to take away from other businesses, but because they really wanted other people to have a good summer vacation, and wanted people who were of modest means to have fun. ...

And then, in the end, they were successes because everybody loved them. And the last summer, it was just remarkable, how people were coming out and thanking them. It was really moving.

While there are plenty of humorous moments in 'My Family and Other Hazards,” Melby is honest about challenges that came from her childhood on the course and her adult life in California.

'When you're an artist, you have to show your cards,” she said. 'I think one thing I did get from stand-up comedy is the idea that: ‘I'm going to say something on stage tonight that I think we all agree on, but I'll be the one who says it first.' ...

You have to be willing to kind of go first. So I think I did have that practice.”

However, writing 'My Family and Other Hazards” still was a challenge, and took this graduate of the University of Iowa's monfiction workshop six years to complete.

'People have dreams and aspirations, which is great and really motivating, but you don't start out there,” she said. 'You start out with a Monday morning, Tuesday morning. People can compare where they hope to get to with where they are today, and they get overwhelmed.

'When you're doing something that's hard, you notice there're not a lot of people who are doing the same thing. And that's hard. You have to give yourself a break. People are really hard on themselves. If you really want to make (it) ...

you have to be really kind to yourself.”

Melby knows it also helps to have something larger pushing you forward. For her, strong emotions inspired her to pursue - and complete - the book.

'I was drawn to the irony of how I was having these great insights about my life and how life should be in a setting where a bright red windmill is turning around,” she said. 'I wanted to figure it out.”