Now, as to things that _are_ Important... I got this lovely story today from a reader named Amanda Winter ( @winteriscoming on Twitter, should any of you want to contact her): How Outlander changed my life. Four years ago, as my grandmother was enduring her third round of chemo, I made the decision to move out of state to attend college. I was searching for a way to stay connected to her, when phone calls weren’t enough; on the rare occasion she had the energy for them. My grandmother, who used to force me to sit through endless episodes of wheel of fortune, and force me to look up words in the dictionary instead of telling me their definitions, instilled a deep love of words in me. The woman who had always been my cheerleader and so full of life was so sick, she couldn’t even bathe by herself. The woman who sat through countless tap dancing recitals, choir concerts, and explanations of exactly why I couldn’t have possibly made that mess when the dog clearly had motive, was so sick she didn’t have the energy to hold the phone while we spoke. So when I moved to attend school, we decided that we would have our own little book club, just the two of us. Our first book was Outlander, and we both devoured it within two days. We continued through the series, and spoke every day. Her phone calls always started with “Guess what Jamie and Claire did today?” And my personal favorite of all her text messages: “PLEASE GET OUT OF CLASS SOON! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT LIZZY DID!” Our Outlander conversations were the one thing she saved her energy for, and as soon as it was over, she slept for hours on end. It kept us central to one another, and now, when I am upset, she still calls to tell me “Dinna fash.” Two years ago, I gave birth to a beautiful little redhead. I named her Claire Marjorie in honor of the story that helped us bond, and the woman who means so much to me. Then three months ago, I experienced a parent’s worst nightmare. I arrived at the hospital to give birth to a baby girl, only to have her whisked away from me. I didn’t see, touch, or hold my baby for almost a full week. I had contracted a virus while pregnant, and arrived in the NICU to be told that the virus had resulted in calcifications in her brain, a cyst in her basal ganglia, an enlarged liver and spleen, and a platelet count so low that she required five platelet transfusions and one total blood transfusion. My husband had to return to work shortly after, and my two year old went to stay with my mother. I was left to hold vigil next to my child’s bedside in the NICU, alone, for six weeks. Although I was physically alone, Jamie and Claire were with me once again. While Kate had her CAT scan, Jamie rescued Claire from the witch trial. While Kate had an IV inserted in her scalp, because all of her other veins had been used up, Jamie and Claire ended up in Georgia of all places! The day that they told me Kate was totally deaf, and would never hear me sing to her as her sister loves for me to do, that damn pig started causing trouble again. And during the seemingly endless nights that I had to sit vigil to make sure that Kate kept breathing while she slept, Jamie and Claire sent Bree, Roger, Jem, and Mandy back through the stones so that Mandy could get the medical help she needed. I laid my sick child on my chest, and read the story of Jamie and Claire to her. When the other babies in the NICU, who had NEVER had any other human interaction than nurses who stuck them, and had no family who cared for them, needed human interaction, I held them on my chest while my daughter was with her father, and I read to them too. If Diana (and Sam for that matter) were to read this, I would like them to know that these are not stories; they are members of my family. I would thank her for her gift to my family, and tell her that her books have changed my life numerous times, and helped me ready myself for challenges ahead. To quote Claire, “Je Suis Prest, indeed.” As I told Amanda, her story is one of the great blessings of my life as a writer. _This_ is a big part of why I do what I do.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 10:31:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015