As I was reading the proof copy of the book, it dawned on me; this is about my mother. Mom died in 2002. I started the book in 2003 as a few short stories for creative writing courses at Northwest Florida State College. The main theme of the book is about a boy dealing with the loss of his mother when he was a small child. I lost my mother as an old man but that wouldn't have made much of a story.
I also realized that the book came from grieving for many of the things I've lost since 1988. Much of that grief is about leaving Grenada; I wanted to spend the rest of my life there. I still feel after 20 years that my heart is there and I'll never recover it fully. Some of the grief is about losing a daughter that meant the world to me. And there's grief about my own youth and how I misused the potential.
But the book isn't a sad book. It's a little sad at the beginning but it gets a lot better. The book is about spiritual growth--learning who we really are and how to recognize important things and not hold onto unimportant things.
As `Abdu'l Bahá said, "If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season shall we wait?"
Keep reading,
Ron