When I lost my four-year-old granddaughter due to a car accident, my world came to a complete stop. My friends gave me books on grief, but nothing I read helped me, so I decided to write this book. It is raw and tells everything I went through, with no filter. I wanted to bring the process of grieving out into the open and not dance around topics that others don’t want to discuss, such as anger, severe depression, and thoughts of suicide. Grieving is a series of missteps, misinterpretations, and good intentions gone awry. This book is about not only grieving but also healing, which is sometimes just as difficult. Letting go of guilt and other burdens we sometimes carry can be daunting, but if we try really hard, we can find our way through to the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's not easy to become a dark poet; you must give your full emotion to create a touching poem. They say only the broken and the unhappy can write an effective penetrating poem. Sometimes I wonder where those ideas are coming through because in reality, I am a mother and wife of a contented family. But I guess my past experiences in life taught me to be as involved as I write... it's the reason I was able to create this book... TEARS OF A BUTTERFLY is a collection of heart-wrenching poems written and compiled by yours truly... Be ready to wander inside my bleeding heart as you start to read...

Mothers of addicted and alcoholic children share a deep connection—one that is rarely understood by anyone who hasn’t experienced a similar path. Sharing our perspectives helps us all grow stronger, together. “We all need to take a closer look at the things we’ve avoided—the things lurking around in this place where love and addiction meet—so we’re as strong as we can be.” —Sandra Swenson, author of Tending Dandelions In the shadows of our child’s struggles with addiction, we find ourselves tending to a life for which we weren’t prepared. These meditations continue the tradition of Hazelden’s beloved meditation books by providing moments of recognition, confession, and healing for those who are realizing that recovery rarely follows a neat or comfortable path. Along the way, we plant beautiful roses only to be injured by their thorns, and we pull up unwanted dandelions that, at times, are our only source of wishes. By sharing the realities we never expected our families to face, mothers of addicted children support each other through experiences that can only be feared and imagined by others. From our shared struggles emerge opportunities for personal growth. Tending Dandelions is a vital source of wisdom, support, and strength that helps us begin our own journey of recovery.

A selection of children's poems and drawings reflecting their surroundings in Terezín Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia from 1942 to 1944.

The story of the Black American is the story of triumph, struggle, and sacrifice that is weaved into the fabric of the United States. James F. York (Jamie), an optimistic dreamer is faced with those lessons through his transformation into a young man growing up in coastal North Carolina. Following the lessons of his heroic grandfather, Jamie finds his sense of self and becomes the catalyst for change in his tight-knit community

Children's adventure-mystery with comic relief added throughout. Test read by adults also positive in the fashion that "Stand by Me" was a children's adventure that proved adult appropriate. "Old Man Miller's Haunted Hill" is about three 10-year-olds (one girl, two boys) make an event-filled trip to a haunted hill, with much being revealed in a twist ending.