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Follow My Journey

“You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach…and you know it might not ever come your way…dream it anyway.” Martina McBride’s hit song “Anyway” popped up on my iPod as I was preparing to write today’s post. It never fails, when I need inspiration, my muse sticks in his two cents.

What are dreams? They can be fanciful ideas that may never be achieved but are so much fun to play out in our minds; sort of like living vicariously through other’s experiences. Dreams can also be those honorable contemplations of saving the world, finding a cure for cancer, or writing the great American novel.

Dreams are the buds on a flower preparing to bloom. Dreams are cocoons awaiting the transformation into butterflies. Dreams are the prompts that keep us moving forward, through love, through loss, and through healing.

One of my healing dreams has come true through the writing and publishing of “A Far Cry…From Home.” The stellar group of people that have been placed in my path since the September 2013 launch of the book would be unknown to me if I hadn’t followed my dream of keeping my son’s memory alive. My dream “felt so out of reach” but I persevered through tears, laughter, and stress. I was determined to “dream it anyway.”

Validation that your dream has become a reality comes from some of the most beautiful places. I received a review from Dr. Caelan Kuban, Executive Director of The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children: (excerpt) “Emotional, yet refreshingly hopeful, this story succeeds in its quest to communicate to others who are also grieving the loss of a child, that they are not alone.” The entire review was featured on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 for Reviews Day at A Far Cry…From Home.

Thank you, Dr. Kuban, for reminding me why I wrote the book in the first place, even though it seemed so out of reach at the time. If my dream shines a ray of hope on one person, one parent, one sibling, struggling with loss; then my dream has genuinely come true.

Thanks for reading!

– Sandy Richards

Sandy Richards is a devoted mom and celebrated author whose experience of losing a child has allowed her to connect, inspire and heal with other grieving parents through her memoir A Far Cry ...From Home and her blog. In addition, Sandy strives each day to inspire children to read, imagine, and smile through her award winning children’s books and ongoing volunteerism in her local school district. Sandy lives with her husband, Joe, in Milford, MI.

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