The Will to be True Blog

All the stories I write are a compilation of the numerous events I have heard in a lifetime of interaction with people. As a nurse in maternal and newborn care, a Minister in a spiritual organization dedicated to a path of openness, and a health and wellness counselor, I have worked with people from all over the world. I thank them for sharing their stories with me. I am deeply grateful to them for trusting me with their confidences and I hope their struggles and triumphs are heard in the words.

I have been writing stories since I was a child, and reading others with equal interest. Story telling is a part of my cultural heritage. I have seen that sharing personal anecdotes is a way of helping people to easily connect with and understand complex human issues. I have never accepted the status quo. As a wife, mother and grandmother, it is important to me to access information through many venues because I accept that we are all different and our styles of learning and understanding are as multifaceted as the issues. I have lived in different countries long enough to be aware of how culture is ingrained in us and helps to form our character. Culture is at the heart of our souls. Currently, I live in Canada with my husband Harold. We have two sons David, Paul and four grandsons. My sister, Gertrude King, and I operate a women’s health and wellness service in a small community. I continue to work as a nurse helping new mothers negotiate the ups and downs of early motherhood. My ministry work consists of officiating at weddings, funerals and baptisms or baby naming ceremonies. Each role offers a unique way for me to touch people and to learn from them. I feel blessed to have found my eternal muse, an energy which has given me the steadfastness to complete what I start, something I have not done consistently.

I am moved, to write from the heart, by the music I listen to every day. This story, in particular was inspired by songs written by Jane Sibbery and ably performed by k.d. lang. ‘The Valley’ and ‘Love is Everything’ and of course, Please Help Me I’m Falling, made popular by Hank Locklin. The lyrics of Please Help Me I’m Falling challenged me to find a reason for someone to be in a situation like that. My favourite author, Daphne duMaurier wrote a similar type of love story called Frenchman’s Creek.

As I move through my autumn years, it is imperative to me that lifelong goals be fulfilled with as much energy as I put into my early career. Maturity allows me the wisdom to be more open and understanding, seeing the value in facing life’s challenges with courage, not always accepting that the status quo is best.