For One More Day…A beautiful story…I simply couldn’t put the book down, until a moment ago when I read the last page. It was, for the most part, a sad story…but one with a great deal of meaning and one that really pulled at my heartstrings. A tale of a man who got one more day with his deceased mother – she appeared to him while he was in a sort of coma after trying to kill himself. There is a great deal of depth to this novella, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy and read it – especially if you have lost a parent to death or divorce, been through a divorce yourself, or somehow estranged yourself from someone close.

“It’s such a shame to waste time. We always think we have so much of it.”
- This is a truth that every single one of us is guilty of…Looking back now, I understand that I realized this truth at a young age - that there simply isn’t that much time... when my father died I understood that you or someone you love can be here one moment and gone the next…I think that is why I live my life the way I do – try to fill every day, every minute, every second to the rim…take on every challenge with lightening speed…I never want to look back at any point in my life with 'what if's', “What if I had done that…what if I had taken that chance…visited that place….” I'd rather live totally in the moment and experience as much as I can - while some people think I’m a little eccentric, reading this book has helped me put my worldview into a different perspective.

“I hope you never hear those words. Your mom. She died. They are different than other words. They are too big to fit in your ears. They belong to some strange, heavy, powerful language that pounds away at the side of your head, a wrecking ball coming at you again and again, until finally, the words crack a hole large enough to fit inside your brain. And in so doing they spilt you apart.”

- This passage made me cry…Cry for the father that I lost, and the mother I will lose one day. I resonated deeply with the words written – for that is how it felt when my mother told me my dad died. That Saturday afternoon, in February 1990, I remember not being able to grasp, to comprehend what she was saying – it didn’t make sense – I’d seen him just a few hours before, he had kissed my forehead as he walked up the stairs to the kitchen before disappearing again to his bedroom. When she sat my sisters and I down on the couch in the living room to tell us (and how she mustered the strength – to this day it astounds me) my world began to spin and when it eventually stopped, I felt a part of me die…There was nothing my poor mother could say or do that could bring him back, make things right again.

- As I’ve grown older I realize all that she had to endure after his death – the many hats she had to wear, the pain she had to face, the obstacles she had to overcome – and all on her own. She had to be a mother and a father…she was without any support from anyone…her parents were long gone, her only brother long gone…and my father’s parents, although alive then, were pretty much gone to us…

- All these years my mother has humbly lived in the shadows of my dead father…Who can live up to such a legacy in the mind of a little girl…With each passing year it has been harder and harder to hold on to the times I had with my dad, so it seems natural that only good memories remain…How could my mother possibly compete with a handful of good memories of my father, when she was the one left to deal with the difficult years – the grief, the pain, the sorrow, the dysfunction, the financial stress, the puberty, the growing pains, the everything! Over the years, as I have ‘grown up’ I’ve had this talk with my mom, expressed my gratitude towards her for everything – and apologized for a lot too.

- I still hold my father sooo dear, keep him on such a pedestal, feel him with me at all times. Maybe its death that does it – maybe its time, maybe its because he died when I was so young…I don’t think I’ll ever take him off that pedestal – don’t think I would want to…But, I want to be sure to make more time for my mother – I know that one day I’ll hear those words, “Your mom…she died…” I just pray I have a lot more time, far more than one more day.

- Mama, I love you from the bottom of my heart – I am so grateful for you, your strength, courage, patience, acceptance, love, determination, and grace. We’ve been through more than the average person should – but all the events in our lives have made us strong and truly appreciative of life – this moment – this day. I want to thank you – you are an amazing, incredible woman – a true inspiration – I LOVE YOU!