Home / Archives for February 2017
Nick loves to work. He is always asking if he can help get pans out when we are cooking, or get the dishes out of the dishwasher or putting wood in our fireplace. He also has a formal job, with a job coach. He shreds papers in an office for a few hours each week. His
Nick wanted to sing in our church talent night this weekend, and he said that Arden and I needed to sing with him. He said that he wanted to sing his favorite song, which is Phil Coulter’s song, “The Town I love so well.” We told him that it was too long for a talent
Nick’s best friend is his dad Arden. They love each other and love being together. They do have their particular routines and ways of doing things. Whether it is singing songs back to back every morning while Arden is getting Nick cleaned up and ready for the day or when they sneak off to McDonald’s
While living our hectic lives, we can miss the subtle clues of true friendship. Nick attends a day program called Bridge Academy two days a week. He calls it going to school. They go on field trips and have outings all over the Seattle area. It is incredible. Nick missed a couple of days of
Nick loves to sing. At an Irish sing song, if you are willing, people will ask you to sing your party piece. Nick has two favorite songs that he loves to sing at the parties. Both are written by Phil Coulter. “The town I love so well,” was written about “The Troubles” in Phil’s home town
It is said that patience is a virtue. I suppose that is true. My problem is that I have had many situations throughout my life that could be teaching me patience and yet I still experience things that take me to the edge of my patience. I do hope that my capacity for patience is increasing,
In the first few weeks after he was born, Nick just didn’t seem to completely wake up. He was never fully alert. He wasn’t comforted by anything; food, warmth, human touch, nothing seemed to stop him from crying. It wasn’t a loud cry. Just a constant one. In frustration, after what seemed like hours of
Nick, like the rest of us, learns best from watching others. When all of our kids were little, we noticed that often as his younger siblings were growing up and working on a specific developmental skill, Nick would make great progress in that area. Then that sibling would pass him up, and Nick would be on
Nick doesn’t feel obligated to do things just because it is expected. He carves out his own path in most social settings. Our oldest son Ryan was getting married to Tiffany in May of 2001. Karen and I organized a bridal shower for her in early April. Her mom and sisters were coming up from Portland
It takes courage to live a full life. You might not be fighting a roaring lion in order to save your life and the life of your loved ones, but we all get the chance to exhibit courage. Courage is deciding to move forward even when you are trembling in your boots. It takes courage to march
Announcing that I have finished a book with the working title of “The Fairy Fort.” I am currently pitching it to publishers. Keep checking back to watch the progress of my newest novel.
Here is a quick glimpse of the story.
Sarah Doherty is an 18-year-old living in rural Ireland at the tail end of the Great War. Plagued by severe epilepsy, she is protected by her parents and lives a sheltered, secluded, lonely life. The Fae, local Irish fairies, interfere with her life. She falls forward a century in time through the local fairy fort of standing stones. She had a seizure in 1918 and woke up in 2020. The 21st century world includes life-saving prescriptions, physical comforts and the independence and freedom she seeks. The locals are welcoming and Andy Mclaughlin, a handsome young historian, is intriguing. She doesn’t want to return home.
Then a letter arrives from Boston divulging the story of Sarah and Andy’s lives that are deeply entwined in the previous century. They are not yet in love but as they seek to verify the letter through online resources, they feel a growing obligation to their unborn family and to each other. What would happen to their posterity living in Boston if they don’t return to 1918? Even if they do make it back, her parents can never know what happened to her or that would change everything.
This Young Adult time-travel romance explores the question: Do we have the freedom to make choices or is free will an elaborate illusion?
This is my third book. I love reading time travel romances. I am an advocate for epilepsy awareness because my 43-year-old son has intractable epilepsy. As a genealogist specializing in Irish research, I live part of the year in the village where the story is based. I wrote the book to help young adults understand that difficult situations can change your life. Sometimes miraculously.
