Friday, February 25, 2011

Wherever You Are

I love books. I love the way they smell. I love the way they look on the shelves in my living room. Autobiographies are my favorite. I also take pleasure a girly, love/life story now and then. Last weekend I was introduced to something a little different; a type of book that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed in more than 25 years – a children’s book.


My sister purchased Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You by Nancy Tillman to read to her daughter Aubrey. It may seem silly since I have no children (yet), but after reading this book I had to have one for myself. It is the most extraordinary, most sincere, loving book that I have ever had the privilege to read.


Of course, it may hold a special place in my heart because even at 31, I pretend that my mother is reading this book to me. Nine years to the day that I read this book we lost our mother to cancer. Needless to say, there were tears. This book is exactly what our mother would say to us, right now, today, if she could. If I close my eyes and concentrate hard enough I can hear her voice…”So hold your head high and don’t be afraid to march to the front of your own parade. If you’re still my small babe or you’re all the way grown, my promise to you is you’re never alone.”


I must admit, it is difficult to hold back the tears, but I cannot stop reading this book. There are no words to describe how much I miss my mother. But when I quietly recite the words over and over I feel as if she is standing behind me whispering in my ear…”So climb any mountain…climb up to the sky! My love will find you. My love can fly.”


I am by no means a book critic, but I do appreciate compassionate words that can express so splendidly such a powerful feeling…love. Even if you do not have a child to share it with, you will fall in love with the sweet words Nancy Tillman conveys so perfectly. This book will warm your heart even on the coldest of days.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

An Introduction

Just breathe…my motto, if you will. It’s my sentiment towards life. I quietly repeat it to myself over and over when life is pulling my hair in one direction and I’m trying to stay calm and go the other way. This happens almost daily. I am a very anxious woman. I get aggravated at the tiniest of matters and tend to overanalyze situations that are beyond my control. Just breathe, Angela.


I don’t want this to discourage you from reading my blog. Not all of it will be about my often neurotic self and my seemingly random thoughts. My last blog, I’m 30? was about the woes (and joys) of being thirty. This time there will be no reoccurring theme. I will just write about whatever obsession, frustration, like or dislike that is consuming my mind at the time; scattered ideas and feelings.


As I stated a time or two in I’m 30? writing is very healing for me; my own personal therapist. I try to write something every day even if it’s just a to-do list. I mostly write just a sentence or two and toss it out like the leftovers that we never eat. I have rarely kept anything that I have written. If I tried hard enough though I’m sure I could dig up a poem or short story from my teenage years. And I could even probably find a paper that I had written for school, but nothing in recent years. I write to let my feelings out, to discard the sometimes overwhelming worry that plagues my mind. Then I am done, satisfied. So, consider this blog (and my last one) my not so private journal. Enjoy.