Jamieson Wolf's Blog, page 65

Dear 2015

Dear 2015…

You rock! You were absolutely fantastic!

My New Years Resolution for 2015 was to live more and I certainly did that! What a year it was. It’s amazing to come to the end of another year and I can’t believe it’s over! Throughout the year I was blessed many times over and learned what I really could do and what I was capable of.

It was a year of change, of joy and pleasure. There were stumbles along the way, but mostly it was a year of growth and prosperity.

Let’s take a look back, shall we?

January

In January, my second book of poems was released! Talking with the Earth was far different from Talking to the Sky. In the first book, I was trying to deal with the Multiple Sclerosis and what my life meant now. In Talking with the Earth the themes were different. They dealt with acceptance and, thanks to Michael, with love-for him and for myself. I couldn’t be happier with how the collection turned out!

It also showed me how much love changes a person. Talking to the Sky was a little over 200 pages. Talking with the Earth was a little over 400 pages. Proof that love can move mountains.

February

In February, Michael and I made the decision to move in together and I gave my notice at the end of the month. While this might not seem like a big deal to some, to me it was the start of a whole new chapter in our relationship. The idea that we would build a home together was both wonderful and terrifying at the same time.

March

In March, Michael and I signed the lease for our new home. Even better? I had a follow up appointment with my neurologist and received the most amazing news: after almost two years of battling the MS, I had no new lesions! If that’s not a cause to celebrate, I don’t know what is! I was thrilled that all the work I had been doing to better myself (diet, exercise, Reiki and meditation) had paid off. Thus far, it’s the best appointment I’ve had!

April

April was a big month for me.

I walked the 5KM MS Walk! It was something I didn’t think I’d be able to do. I had walked the 3KM last year and that took a lot out of me. However, in April of last year, after the MS Walk, I decided to take on an exercise regime. The results paid off!

We walked 5KM in an hour and a half! Pretty darn awesome seeing as it took us an hour to walk 3KM the year before. Not only that, but as a team we raised $660 towards MS research and the hope to find a cure. It was awesome!

The day before the MS Walk, Michael and I finally moved in together! It took us the better part of the day, but it was all worth it to be able to wake up next to each other every morning. It was a dream come true to live and be with a man who loved me unconditionally. I felt like I was living the dream. Indeed, I still do.

Michael and I also celebrated our one year anniversary in April. It’s funny, it’s like I’ve known him forever, can’t imagine my life without him and our time together is timeless.

May

In may, I finished the first draft of Boy Friends, a novel I had worked on for over two years.

At first, I thought it would be a novella, but the story kept growing bigger and the characters kept growing more real to me. I thought it would be a little 10, 000 word story, but it ended up being over 61, 000 words.

It was a relief to have finished it but also a joy as, up until that point, I hadn’t ever written anything that long!

I also wrote a blog post on my blog and it went viral. Hundreds of thousands of people read it and I was even on the news because of it! Nothing I’ve written before or since was read by so many. It was even read on the radio, on riddit and all over social media.

I was very proud to have spoken out for someone who couldn’t speak for himself.

Check that out here: https://jamiesonwolfauthor.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/a-letter-to-oc-transpo/?fb_action_ids=10155516299850702&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard

June

I entered my novella in the Dear 2114 contest.

It didn’t win but the joy was in the writing of it for me. It’s actually one of my strongest pieces and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. It started with an idea: “What if we could create art that actually spoke to us?” The story flowed from there.

You can read it free here: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/41681164-what-the-moon-had-to-say-futurelibrary

I also got to meet one of my favourite medium/physics, Colette Baron Reid. She’s a glowing light of a spirit and I went to her show where she helped people speak to their departed loved ones.

It was an honour and a thrill to meet her and get my book signed. Such a fantastically moving experience.

Colette said I had really great energy and coming from her, that’s just awesome!

July

This month was spent writing and reveling in the gloriousness that is summer.

August

Michael took me to Niagara Falls for my birthday this year!

I’ve never been but it was so magical to see the Falls. They were so powerful and moving. I’ve never actually been, so it was a first for me. They were so moving and majestic, I can understand the draw they have.

What moved me most was that I was in one of the most romantic places in the world with the man I loved. When we walked along the falls, I noticed these locks all over the fence and asked Michael what they were for.

People who were married there placed a lock with their initials on the fence signifying a bond that would never break.

We went to a restaurant where the waiters sung happy birthday to us and there were fireworks at night over the falls. There were rainbows every day and it was as if the sky was telling us how happy it was for us.

So magical and I can’t wait to go back and place my own lock on the fence.

September

In September, I achieved another milestone of sorts. I reached the two year mark for my Copaxone medication.

Taking a daily injection might not seem like a cause for celebration, but it was for me. It marked another step on the path that I’m on towards good health and a healthier me. At first, taking Copaxone every day was a hindrance but now I know that it’s part of what is keeping me whole.

I also had the honour of having one of my poems chosen for Linguistic Duality Day at work. It was a bit nerve wracking knowing that everyone at work would be reading one of my poems, but it was very well received and everyone loved it. All that worry for nothing!

I also re-published my small book of fairy tales, When Love Blooms. I had thought that the collection was finished but I had written three new stories and it felt right to put the collection out again with the stories included.

So I did another edit and re-released the book. This collection of stories has to do with all types of love: gay, straight, interracial, love that has left, new love. It’s a collection that speaks to the heart, which seems appropriate, and I love how it grew from one story to a collection of them, all within the town of Inglewood Hamlet.

October 

October was reveling in the beauty of fall and watching the season change. I also realized my dream and finally became a Hogwarts student! Hey, it was bound to happen sometime.

It was just great to dress up and enjoy being a kid again!

November

In November, Michael and I went to Cuba!

We stayed for a week and it was amazing. Where Orlando and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter made my heart happy, Cuba made my soul happy.

It also put a lot of things into perspective for me. It showed me what really mattered, what was really important.

It was an incredible, wonderful vacation and I can’t wait to go back.

December 

This month, I put out my Holiday novella and couldn’t have been happier

with how it turned out! It started with the idea of “What is a young boy doesn’t believe in magic?”. I just took the idea and ran with it.

It turned out better than I could have hoped and I’m so thrilled with it. Eventually it will be available on Amazon, but you can download The Magic of Stars for free from my web site: http://www.jamiesonwolf.com

 

As we draw to the end of 2015, all I have to say is thank you. Thank you 2015 for being so incredibly and totally awesome.

Let’s do it again for 2016, shall we?

The Princess of Disks – A Poem

This is my last offering for Pay It Forward 2015! It’s a poem I’ve written for the lovely Erin Dowe, who is awesome and fabulous.

 

The Princess of Disks

 

When I first

met her, I

thought she was

a wood nymph.

She stood with

the sun at

her back so

that she glowed

a brilliant golden

colour. When she

spoke, it was

softly and with

a mischievous smile.

“I hear you like Bjork.”

She stepped forward

out of the

sunlight and, for

a moment, I

thought she held

a staff and

shield, that the

light from the

sun was actually

coming from her.

Then I blinked

my eyes and

the image was

gone. Throughout the

years though, that

image has returned,

time and time

again. She is

the epitome of

generosity and kindness,

always giving to

those that need

it. She is

considerate and kind,

oftentimes giving more

than she has.

More than that,

I have watched

as she creates

possibilities for herself,

as she ends

one cycle and

begins another one

anew. She directs

her power where

she needs to,

whether it be

to help others

or to lend

a hand whenever

one is needed.

Now, when I

think of her,

I see the

sun again, shining

so brightly and

brilliantly, that you

can’t help be

awed by it

and by her.

Yuletide Star – A Poem

When I think

back on Yuletide

from my past,

I remember this

light that sat

above the tree

in the shape

of a star.

However, when I

took the star

down to grab

hold of that

light, it would

elude me, still

dancing away from

my grasp. I

would see it

as I walked

out in the

snow, dancing in

front of me,

as if leading

me towards something.

I would see

that light throughout

my life, always

dancing away from

me, as if

if wasn’t time

yet for me

to be graced

by its presence.

When I first

met you, the

first thing I

noticed was the

light that surrounded

you, the brightness

of your spirit,

and the glow

of your kindness

that emanated from

you, pulsing brightly

to the sound

of your voice.

I’ve realized that

the light I

followed all throughout

my life was

leading me to you.

It occurred

to me that

the light I

kept chasing after

as a child

and through out

my adult years

was the light

that came from

you, for you

are that light,

that brightness and

this Yuletide, I

am thankful for

you.

A Symphony of Us – A Poem

When I talk about you,

My thoughts are stars,

filled with wishes.

They rise up to the sky

so that everyone can

see how beautiful you are.

When I think about you,

my words are lights,

keeping away the darkness

of thoughts and acting

like lighthouses for

brighter shores.

When I write about you,

my words are like birds

as they fly across the page,

filling it with such emotion

that my words come to life.

When I look at you,

my heart sings a song

that only you can hear,

the notes appearing

in the air between us,

the tempo rising

as you hold me close.

The notes create a symphony,

each note played along my body,

until my entire world is filled

with the song of you,

filling the infinite

and beyond.

The Magic of Stars – Free Holiday Novella!

Happy Holidays!

This is my favourite time of year! People come together, spread kindness through the world and there’s something about it that’s just a little bit magical.

Speaking of magic, I have a gift for all of you. It’s my annual Holiday novella and you can download it for free. A small gift from me to you.

This year’s novella is called The Magic of Stars. Here’s a bit about the novella:

Oscar doesn’t believe in magic.

Though he lives in Inglewood Hamlet where magic is an everyday occurrence and his grandmother is the village miracle woman. Oscar still doesn’t believe in magic. Scientific facts are things that are proven, whereas magic has no quantifiable proof.

His whole world changes when one night, at his grandmothers urging, he wishes upon a falling star. “I wish I believed in magic…”

The next day, he meets a girl in the village named Laura. She seems unlike anyone he has ever met before. Even the snow seems to sparkle more around her. Though they have never met before, she seems to know him.

Little does Oscar know that Laura will change his life forever. Sometimes wishes do come true. It is Yuletide after all…

You can download the novella from my web site here:

www.jamiesonwolf.com

or here: http://jamiesonwolf.yolasite.com/

It’s available for you to read in PDF, ePub or Mobi formats which you can read on your computer or download to your favourite reading device.

I hope you enjoy it and that it helps to make your Holiday all the more magical.

If you enjoy it, feel free to let me know!

Happy Holidays everyone!

The Best Books of 2015

It’s that time again!

Here’s my top ten list of the books I loved from 2015. To be eligible, a book has to have been published during that year. I’ve read upwards of 80 books this year, so picking from that list if always hard to do. However, these are the books that stood out from the crowd, the ones I loved and will come back to again and again.

There’s something here for everyone: fantasy, romance, horror, magical realism, young adult, fiction. I didn’t just read these books, I lived them.

Without further ado, here they are:

1- The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George

I absolutely loved this book.

Talk about a love letter to anyone who loves to read. Jean Perdu runs a bookshop that’s on a barge that sits on the Seine in Paris. He is a book apothecary. He doesn’t just sell you the book you want. He’s able to read people, get a handle on what they’re dealing with, and sells them the book they need.

Jean has yet to deal with his own ghosts and the woman that got away. She broke his heart and left him with only a letter that he hasn’t read for twenty-one years. When he meets Catherine, a woman that fills him with hope, he decides to heal himself and starts with finally opening the letter.

The letters contents cause him to haul anchor and head to the south of France. He’s joined by an lovelorn Italian chef and an author who has written one best selling book but hasn’t been able to write anything else and fears he will never write again.

On the way, the three men learn about love, about passions and about themselves and the healing power of words and the stories that shape our lives.

I talked about this book to anyone that would listen. It’s not only a truly magical novel, it’s a love letter to all books. This one is for anyone who loves to read, who can remember where they were or what they were going through when they read a certain book, who feels that characters in the books they read are more than ink on paper, they are friends.

Read The Little Paris Bookshop and be enchanted. Truly magical in every way.

2- The Great Village Show by Alexandra Brown

What’s not to love about this book?

Alexandra Brown continues to wow me with her novels. The Great Village Show is the second book in her Tindledale series, but don’t let that stop you from picking it up. You don’t need to have read The Great Christmas Knit Off to read this book and fall in love with the townspeople of Tindldale.

After her son leaves for school, Meg decides to throw herself into the planning of The Great Village Show. Tindledale and all the surrounding townships are competing in the competition and if Tindledale places high enough it might save her little town.

Add a handsome celebrity chef and a woman that seems to have everything but is struggling with a secret and enough town antics to keep you on your toes and you have a novel told with such warmth and such heart that it will make your soul happy.

Read my review here: https://jamiesonwolfauthor.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/the-great-village-show-by-alexandra-brown-a-book-review/

3- Lawless by Michelle St. James

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a romance novel but I’m so thrilled I’ve started again.

Michelle Zink write as Michelle St. James for her Mob Boss trilogy: Ruthless, Fearless and Lawless. The books follow the story of Angelica Bondesan, daughter of a mob boss and Nico Vitale, head of the New York City crime family.

The story of Nico and Angelica is an epic trilogy of love, lust an loss. I love all three books but it’s all about the ending, the final book in the trilogy. That’s what we’re working toward after all right?

I haven’t read a romance novel filled with so much passion, so much heat, for so long. More than that is the heart that Michelle gives her characters. You root for them; you cheer for them. I became so involved with the characters that I couldn’t wait to see what would happen and whether Angelica and Nico would get their happy ending.

This book didn’t disappoint and I was thrilled and entranced with every word.

Read my review here: https://jamiesonwolfauthor.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/lawless-by-michelle-st-james-a-book-review-2/

4- Finders Keepers by Stephen King

When I first heard that Stephen King was going to write a thriller novel with a detective, I was curious to see what he would do with the genre. With Mr. Mercedes, he succeeded and gave us the story of the Mercedes Killer, Brady Hartsfield. He succeeded in every possible way.

In Finders Keepers, he gives us the story of a family that was affected by the tragedy of the Mercedes Killings. Pete Saubers father hasn’t been able to work since he was inured in the tragedy and the family is at wits end. When Pete finds a trunk filled with money and notebooks belonging to celebrated author John Rothstein, he thinks their prayers are answered.

However, Rothstein was killed in a brutal murder for those notebooks and the killer, Morris Bellamy, is still out there. When he finds both the money and the manuscripts missing from the trunk, he goes searching for who took it. That search leads him to Pete Saubers.

While I loved Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers is a much better book in every way. Yes, there is a long build up to the story, but it’s worth it and every word is necessary to the story. Once the backstory is over, the rest of the novel flies by at a wicked fast pace and the ending will leave you wanting more.

Thankfully that will be coming in 2016 when End of Watch, the third and final book in the trilogy, is released. If you haven’t read Mr. Mercedes, King does an excellent job making sure that you can pick up the story in Finders Keepers.

You’ll want to start at the beginning though to get a sense of who Bill Hodges is and what he’s been through. Finders Keepers succeeds in every possible way and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

5- Promises I Made by Michelle Zink

In the sequel to Lies I Told, Zink finishes the story of Grace.

Part of a family of con artists, Grace is now living with a shattered family. Her mother Renee has left, her brother Parker is in jail for a murder he did not commit and her father Cormac is onto the next con.

Grace decides that she wants more than this half life that she’s living, more than just heading to the next con. She wants a life all her own where she doesn’t have to get to know and develop relationships with people because she wants to, not because it’s part of a job.

She decides to try and help Parker get free from prison, but the only way she can think of to do that is to contact the policeman in charge of his case. That sets a whole series of events in motion that could change Grace’s life forever.

I loved this book. Zink shows that it’s not where we come from but the choices we make that define out character and who we are. I loved this book and was so incredibly moved by Grace’s story. I wanted to reach into the book and pull her close, hug her and tell her that somehow, everything was going to be okay.

Read my review here: https://jamiesonwolfauthor.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/promises-i-made-by-michelle-zink-a-book-review/

6- Nigh by Marie Bilodeau

Once in a while, there comes along a book that blends genres and creates a genre all it’s own. Nigh is that book. It reads like The Mist by Stephen King and something from the mind of Charles de Lint and it’s glorious.

Told serially in five parts, Bilodeau gives us the story of Alva, a mechanic. When someone breaks into her apartment to steal something, this sets into motion events that affect Alva and everyone she knows. When the same man breaks into her garage, Alva corners him and he tells her what he’s after.

According to Hector, her grandmothers watch has the power to stop a catastrophe: the veil between the Fey world and our world is growing thinner by the minute. Hector will need her help before the things that go bump in the night enter their world.

This book thrilled and surprised me every step of the way. Having to wait in between installments was a delicious kind of torture, but you don’t have to! All five part are out and they are glorious.

Read my review here: https://jamiesonwolfauthor.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/the-end-is-nigh-and-it-is-glorious-a-book-review/

7-Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

There was a lot of hoopla about this book.

Many wondered if Harper Lee knew it was being published. Many wondered whether she actually wanted it out there in the world. Whatever the mystery behind Go Set a Watchman, I’m so glad that we got to read it and that another Harper Lee book exists in the world now.

It was actually supposed to be Lee’s first novel but her editor at the time told her that her voice was strongest in the flashback scenes in the book and to write from that point of view. That book became To Kill a Mockingbird.

In Go Set a Watchman, we reunite with a now twenty-five-year-old Scout and what we learn changes everything we know.  She’s a woman now and still as feisty as she was. When she witnesses Atticus in a white supremacy group and that Atticus might be a racist, she has to confront everything she thinks she knows and the man she thought she knew.

In the end, Go Set a Watchman deepens the way we know the characters of Scout and Atticus and at the end of the novel we understand them better. It’s a lovely book that, despite it’s subject matter, leaves you filled with hope

8- First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

I love Sarah Addison Allen’s books. They are magical realism at its finest and are filled with characters that leap off the page and magic that sparkles.

In First Frost, Allen returns to the family featured in her first novel, Garden Spells. The Waverly sisters are stirring up more magic in this heartwarming sequel and I couldn’t have been happier. I fell in love with Garden Spells and wanted to reunite with the Waverley’s!

It’s October in Bascom North Carolina and the Frost Festival is coming. But the Waverley clan are dealing with problems that maybe not even magic can cure. Claire has started a very successful candy business, Waverley’s candies. She notices that even though she is not making all the ingredients are coming from her magical garden, people are still experiencing the same results. This leads her to question her magic and her abilities.

Sydney is going through her own issues. Wanting another baby but unable to conceive, it’s all she begins to thirst for and becomes an obsession, taking away from the pleasure her life used to bring her. Sydney’s daughter Bay has given her heart to the boy she knows she’s meant to be with, only he doesn’t love her back. Living without her heart leaves her lost. Won’t he see sense and love her back?

When a stranger comes to town and challenges the heart of the family, they all must band together or become lost forever. My meagre plot summary doesn’t capture the magic and sheer joy of this novel and I was thrilled with every page.

9- Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

This novel was a real surprise for me.

Based around the popular podcast of the same name, Welcome to Night Vale revolves around two storylines: That of Diane who has become obsessed with a missing co-worker named Evan who no one else seems to remember and that of Jackie. Jackie runs the pawnshop. When a man in a tan jacket comes into the pawn shop and pawns a note with King City written upon it, it changes her life forever.

The town of Night Vale is where every conspiracy theory is actually true. Part horror, part fantasy and all fabulous, this novel is a book where nothing makes sense yet everything does at the same time. Told in a surrealist storyline, I found myself pulled right into the town of Night Vale.

I want to go there now. Everything was so fantastic and surreal, yet human at the same time that you can’t help but be pulled into the story of Diane and Jackie and what befalls them.

One word of caution: don’t go near the library in Night Vale, whatever you do, and stay way from the dog park. Please ignore the hooded figures in the dog park, they do not exist.

Welcome to Night Vale, where everything is and was and will be again. There are angels, invisible people, shape shifters, demons, and towns that don’t exist, but do if you can find the right way to get there. An absolute treat, you’ll wan to go on to listen to the podcasts just so you won’t have to leave.

10-The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood constantly surprises me.

The Heart Goes last was originally told in serial novellas from Byliner Press. When they went under the story was unfinished. I loved those ebooks and desperately wanted to know what would happen to Stan and Charmaine. Thankfully, Atwood released the whole tale this year in The Heart Goes Last so I could finally find out what happened.

In The Heart Goes Last, the world is in peril. Living in their car, Stan and Charmain eke out a living but they don’t have much of a life. They decide to take a game and go to the town of Consilience offers solutions. They will take part in the Positron project.

In Consilience, they will live as patrons with jobs for one month, and then live as prisoners in the Positron prison the next month. They will share their house with the alternates who will live in the house during their thirty-day prison stay.

Things progress well enough until Steve finds a note with a lurid pink lipstick kiss. The note says “I’m starved for you!” Stan wonders who Jasmine, the writer of the note, is and soon becomes obsessed with her. Even though he knows it’s against the rules to know who their alternates are, he finds a way to be alone with Jasmine.

What Stan does not know is that Jasmine if actually Charmaine and she has become obsessed with  the male counterpart, Max. Their wanting the other people that share their house will be their undoing and the beginning of the end.

What a glorious novel. It never goes to where you think it will and manages to take on a lot of heady subject matter including sex, society, sexuality, death, Elvis impersonators and Marilyn Munroe. It’s a comedic romp that is oh so good and I urge you to read this book.

Magician of Magnitude – A Poem

This is my newest Pay It Forward offering, a poem for Susan Irwin. I hope you like it Wonder Mom.

 

 

Magician of Magnitude 

 

When I was

young, I thought

she was filled with

stars. She seemed

to light up

every room that

she was in.

When I was

a little older,

I thought she

was filled with

sparkles and fairy

dust, able to

make anything that

I wished come

true. When I

was older and

under threat, I

thought she was

filled with fire,

so fierce was

her need to

protect me. Now

that I am

even older, I

know she is

filled with magic.

Able to mend

a broken heart

with mere words,

capable of helping

a tarnished soul

with the simple

act of love,

able to breathe

life into the

seemingly ordinary and

make things magical.

She is all

of these things:

magician of feats,

conjurer of dreams

and most of

all, my Mom.

Promises I Made by Michelle Zink – A Book Review

Grace is coming undone.

After the disastrous events of Lies I Told, life is more than different. Her mother, Renee, has left them, her brother Parker is in jail and her father, Cormac, is already on to the next con. And Grace? Grace is tired.

She is having serious doubts about her ability to carry on with the current con and watch another person’s life be ruined by Cormac’s actions…and hers. Grace is still reeling from the Playa Hermosa con that left an entire family in ruins. She can’t stop thinking about Logan and her part in hurting him.

With Parker in jail, convicted of a shooting he had no part in, she has lost her only confidante, her only piece of sanity in the life that she leads. Cormac keeps saying that they will go after him and get him out, but it’s been months and Cormac hasn’t done a thing.

So while Cormac is out with his newest con, Grace makes a decision: she will get Parker out of jail herself. Taking all of the money that they have left, Grace decides to go back to Playa Hermosa and set things right.

Only thing is, she has no idea how to do this. She wants to put things right, to make up for the choices she made, but undoing a con is impossible and doing the right thing is even more difficult.

She does the only thing she can think of: contact the detective in charge of Parkers case to work out some kind of deal. When she was with Cormac and Renee, contacting the police would have been a stupid move. However, now her choices are her own. Will she turn herself in or break Parker out of jail?

She will have to decide soon. Time is running out…

Zink continues to outdo herself. I loved this book. While Lies I Told had an urgent feel while I read it, Promises I Made is its twin in that it has that same urgent feel with something different. How does Grace undo what she’s done? How can she come to terms with her actions but still call herself a good person?

I also loved the isolation in Promises I Made. In Lies I Told, Grace has a family and is part of a family unit, such as it is. In Promises I Made, she is alone and Zink writes this so well that midway through the book you are aching for Grace and hoping for her.

I loved the character development in this book. Grace has to make some difficult decisions and come to terms with a lot of heavy stuff: what makes a family, can she live with the choices she made, can she be responsible for terrible decision but still consider herself a good person? Grace grew more as a person trying to live beyond the con and form a life for herself, on her terms.

We spend a lot of time alone with Grace and we really get to know her better. This would not have worked in the hands of a lesser writer, but Zink pulls it off with aplomb.  I thought I knew what Grace was capable of after reading Lies I Told, but in Promises I Made, you learn the true strength of her spirit as she comes to grips with the decisions she has made and chooses to make new ones instead.

This book moved me, incredibly so. We’ve all struggled with finding our place in life, with choices we’ve made, with being told what we must do but rebelling against it. Watching Grace struggle, survive and grow on this journey was a privilege and a joy.

You don’t merely read Promises I Made. You live it.

A Gift of Change – A Poem

I was sitting

by the pool

when she approached

me. The sun

had gone down

and the darkness

of night had

come upon us,

lit only by

the twinkle of

stars, interspersed throughout

the sky like diamonds.

“Would you like a gift of change?”

She said to

me. I thought

that I had

misheard her. I

looked up into

her face and

found it full

of light despite

the darkness.

“I’m sorry? A gift exchange?”

She smiled again,

white teeth flashing

in the blackness

of the night.

“A gift of change,”

She said again.

“A Cuban gift, for you. Would you like one?”

I nodded and

she held out

a cup filled

with little slips

of paper. I

took one, choosing

it at random.

I tried to

give her a

peso, but she

shook her head.

“Change is free.”

I looked at

the slip of

paper and saw

that it was

covered with words:

A light Spirit, bright Soul, happy Heart

I stared at

the words for

a moment, unsure

of what they

meant, what change

it was that

I was being

given. Then, as

Cuban music began

to play, sounding

as if it

were coming over

the mountains that

surrounded us, I

felt my soul

dance to the

sound, heard my

heart singing along

to the music.

As I sat

there, brightness began

to pour out

of me, spilling

from inside of

me, gliding from

my skin until

it joined the

stars in the

sky. I knew

that my soul

was at peace

and so was I.

Turning to the

woman to thank

her for her

gift of change,

I saw no

one there. Instead,

there was only

the glittering of

stars light, dancing

along with the

music.

Peaks and Valleys – A Poem

When I look

inside of myself

I am standing

on top of

a mountain. I

can look back

at every step

I have taken.

Each step is

marked with a

small white stone

and they shine

in the sunlight.

I can see

The dark home

I grew up

in at the

very beginning and

can follow the

line of stones

that shine like

diamonds. Along the

path are many

different forests. They

marked times in

my life that

were the darkest.

After the forests

come the hills,

when I was

climbing out of

the darkness towards

the sun. Interspersed

throughout are bright

shining lights where

I was happiest.

I try to look

at what is

coming, what is

beyond, but all

I can see

are clouds and

a dark sky

filled with the

stars of possibility.

I know that

I have only

to wish upon

one of the

stars to make

it so and

embrace whatever comes

my way, knowing

that life is

full of peaks

and valleys, highs

and lows. I

look again, try

to see through

the fog and

stars and can

see only sunlight

of days yet

to come.