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Singer/Songwriter Billy Joel wrote a song entitled, “Honesty.” The words make me sad, he said that “everyone is so untrue.” Well I have to say that not everyone is untrue. My son Nick is completely honest, even when it might be more comfortable to not be. He doesn’t have a social filter and he will answer questions
Most of us have utter the phrase, “when I grow up, I wanna be…..” As kids we look forward to becoming something we imagine is exciting and unique – a super hero, a fireman, a sports professional, a ballerina, etc. My four year old grandson wants to be a pirate. Thinking about that, I realize that
Don’t worry this picture of Nick was not taken recently. It is from a few years ago. However, lately I have been reading posts and queries from parents of newly diagnosed children with epilepsy. My heart breaks for those families over and over. As I read their stories, I can remember all the swirling emotions of
Nick’s first 4th of July was life changing. He was 10 1/2 months old in 1980 and although he didn’t cry all the time like he had as an infant, he spent most of his waking hours just looking around. He didn’t really seem to respond to any outside stimuli. We had been living in Tacoma for
Over the years, Arden and I have often heard the comment, “I don’t know how you guys do it. I couldn’t do it.” I believe the secret to our success in caring for our Nick all these years, is that God has placed people in our life that have given us support and love. Some
Nick was first officially diagnosed when he was about a year old, which was about the time that I realized I was pregnant again. I calculated that Ryan would still be 2 when the baby arrived and Nick was not accomplishing normal developmental levels. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to manage my life.
Nick loves people and he is unafraid to initiate a conversation with everyone that he meets. We began noticing this habit of his about 10 years ago when we started using a wheelchair while we were traveling with him. We would use the service offered by the airport to have a person push his wheelchair through the
Sometimes when Arden and I are talking to someone else, Nick appears to not be paying attention to the conversation. I have wondered if he is bored or if he is having some non-generalized seizures. Whatever the reason, he is not engaged in the conversation and then all of a sudden he will blurt out a few
Nick loves helium filled balloons. They are one of the joyful things in life. For Nick, they indicate a celebration, a party, a time to have fun together. If he sees one, he asks if he can have one. We would always tie the string to his arm so that he could enjoy looking at the
You might not know it, but today was National Wheelchair day. What do you think of when you see someone in a wheelchair? Does it cross your mind to think of the freedom that chair gives the person? I am very grateful to whoever it was that invented the wheelchair. It has made our life
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.
