Some people have incredible stories to tell. A recent blog asked writers when they would retire from writing. Like a lot of others, I replied with a sort of blah "I can't not write." But a response today stunned me. A woman wrote that she had published the last of three memoirs three years ago--at the age of 97. She's spent the last three years trying to market them, but it seems to her young people aren't interested in her past. Yet she lived through five years of the Russian Revolution as a child, then the Great Depression, and two World Wars. Such rich, fascinating stories she must have to tell. I cannot imagine young people not being interested--but then I realize to my own children, those things are distant memories. They don't realize the impact they had on the world, an impact that affects their lives today. I just looked--she has several books on Amazon. I'm going to order one, and after I've read it I'm going to write her. Her name is Nora Percival, and she will a 100 next week. She's threatening to write a book about being a writer of books no one wants to read. I would have to tell her how wrong she is. Want to read her story of escaping the Russian Revolution? http://fw.dnslink.com/?domainname=amazon.com&seedterm=amazon&publicid=43f59b77-9ecf-46eb-bf7c-3af1e1893438
The other story is far different but equally touching. Janie Emaus, an author/friend (we share a publisher) writes a column for the Huffington post (how did she get that wonderful assignment?) and did a post that speaks eloquently of the difference between marriage and friendship--and the importance of the latter. Her husband had a lifelong friend he did everything with--ball games, beer drinking, all the things that men do together. When her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the friend was there, in the hospital, by his home bedside. A year later the friend developed a much more serious health problem. Janie and her husband moved him into their home and have been caring for him, although they either have or soon will lose him. But Janie tells the story so much better than I can. Read it yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janie-emaus/marriage-and-friendship_b_5892894.html
I am in awe of both these women--and Janie's husband and his friend. The old cliché is that God never throws more at you than you can handle. Their strength and resilience is amazing. I guess God knew that.
The other story is far different but equally touching. Janie Emaus, an author/friend (we share a publisher) writes a column for the Huffington post (how did she get that wonderful assignment?) and did a post that speaks eloquently of the difference between marriage and friendship--and the importance of the latter. Her husband had a lifelong friend he did everything with--ball games, beer drinking, all the things that men do together. When her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the friend was there, in the hospital, by his home bedside. A year later the friend developed a much more serious health problem. Janie and her husband moved him into their home and have been caring for him, although they either have or soon will lose him. But Janie tells the story so much better than I can. Read it yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janie-emaus/marriage-and-friendship_b_5892894.html
I am in awe of both these women--and Janie's husband and his friend. The old cliché is that God never throws more at you than you can handle. Their strength and resilience is amazing. I guess God knew that.
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