Ali's Story

I love to read, and write, because I love stories. Everyone has a story to tell. That's what makes this crazy world we live in so interesting. Every Monday, I interview a different person here and share their stories. At first glance, my guests may appear ordinary, but I promise they're not. They're people. And all people are fascinating. We all have a story to tell.

This week, I'm talking to Ali Cross. Ali is the author of seven novels for young adults including BECOME. I'm thrilled that she was able to take a break from her busy fiction writing schedule to share a more personal story here. Welcome, Ali.


Let's get started, Ali, describe yourself in 50 words or less.

AC: I am an optimist and realist who still feels like a little girl most of the time. Hence, the graphic T's from the junior section at WalMart. I love being a mom more than I ever thought possible. I am happy.

Me: I love that you describe yourself as happy, it's such a wonderful thing to be. What do you love most in the world?


AC: Family. I love my Father in Heaven, my husband, my sons. But I also love the family I've found in friends, both online and in the real world. I never knew how important family was until I grew up ~ and now it is my very favorite of all time!

Me: Family is pretty darn great, and it sounds like you have a really good one. What do you fear most?
AC: I fear failing my children. I realize I'm painting a picture here of being a crazy, neurotic, over-protective mom, but I promise, I hide it in real life very well!
Me: No, you don't seem neurotic at all. Now I want to know your largest unfulfilled dream, and what are you doing to reach it?


AC: This is going to sound weird, probably. But my greatest unfulfilled dream is that my sons will grow up well, that they'll be able to find and follow their own dreams, that they'll marry and create families of their home ~ that they'll be as happy as I am. They are only thirteen, and I'm really aware that I'll only have them for a few more years. To help them, I'm trying to love them, to lead them, to be REAL with them. I try to step back and let them form their own opinions, forge their own paths, but sometimes it's HARD!
Me: Okay, now you do sound a little crazy. Your biggest dream isn't for yourself but for your kids, who you do realize are not a part of you. I do understand where you are coming from in wanting your children to be happy though. What is the hardest thing you've ever done?

AC: The hardest thing I ever did was to get married. My husband and I didn't date in the traditional sense ~ we only had phone calls and letters to get to know one another! I travelled, by myself, 5, 000 miles by plane, with my wedding dress in tow and finally met up with David 8 days before our wedding. (We HAD met before, but not dated.) I didn't have any family with me, so I had to be brave and strong and exercise a lot of faith that I was doing the right thing. And it was! We've been happily married for twenty-two years! 
Me: Wow! I have never heard of anyone doing anything like that. I'm so glad it worked out so well for you. Now that we've gotten to know each other, tell me a story. It can be long or short. From your childhood or last week. Funny, sad, or somewhere in between. Just make sure it's yours. What's your story?


AC: Since this became all about how I feel about my family and stuff, I thought I'd tell the story of how I came to this point.

I am eight years younger than my nearest sibling, and my parents divorced when I was four. My siblings told me that Dad left because of me--and I believed them. Even to this day I think there's truth in that statement.

There were a lot of bad things in my childhood and I grew up thinking that I didn't ever want to be a mom. I didn't care about visiting with my siblings or being part of a family. Not until my mom died when I was nineteen. But I'd built all these walls around myself that I didn't know how to reach out to my family. I still wasn't sure I liked/wanted family, but now that I was all alone in the world, I began to realize I NEEDED them.

I had some wonderful opportunities for growth when I was a young woman that changed the course of my life forever. I met and married a good and wonderful man. We planned for and tried to have a family. I so badly wanted a chance to do it right ~ or at least do it better than my parents did. (Isn't that what we all hope for?) But over the next nine years of marriage my husband and I would suffer seven miscarriages, including losing a little girl at 17 weeks gestation.

It's another story in and of itself, but we did manage to have twins ~ and being a mom to them has been everything I had ever hoped in parenthood. I finally have a family, and it is everything I'd hoped it would be.

Family is everything to me because for half my life it was nothing to me.

And that's my story!

Me: Thank you so much for sharing your story, Ali. Your family sounds so great, I'm going to forgive you for being a crazy over-protective mom.


So what's your story? If you're interested in participating in a future installment of What's Your Story, please leave your contact information in the comments of this post or email me directly at katherine.elliott.scott(at)gmail.