Years. That’s how long we’ve been working on this book. You’ve probably heard us talking about it for years, and were wondering if it was ever actually going to come out.
But the book is finally done…PUBLISHED…available for purchase at almost every online retailer out there and (maybe?) at your local bookstore, although you’ll probably need to ask them to order you a copy.
What really took the majority of the time was the initial writing and compiling of all the stories. In some cases this involved interviews with volunteers, such as Florence Van Arnam, who many of you know because she ran the monthly birthday party at Parklands nursing home for over 40 years! She only recently retired after her 90th birthday.
Some of our favorite stories from the book feature the “small-town” residents we’ve met over the years, who taught us about sugar cane candy pulling, feedsack dresses, and the proper way to cook southern collard greens. These stories all made it into the book, in addition to all the funniest moments from these nearly 25 years, and believe me there were plenty of those, intentionally or not.
The final chapter of the book, “I will remember you,” is perhaps for me the most painful to read, but also my favorite, if those two can coexist somehow. In it we tell the stories of those we have loved and lost, and there are many. In fact in some ways we could have written a whole book just on that subject, after all these years.
It took years to just finish the task of compiling the 52 stories and editing and proofreading everything once, twice, and 1000 times over. We worked with professionals to do the layout and ship the book to the major book distributors. Everything from designing the cover of the book, getting a professional author photo taken, to obtaining a bar code for the back of the book. And while we did have help from a publishing company, nothing was full service and we ended up putting in a lot of elbow grease ourselves.
But what a joy to see the book done, and we hope that, as is the title of one of our stories in Chapter 5, it was “Worth the Wait.” Click below to get your copy!
Table of Contents
Prologue
- Deep and Simple Friendship
- Steve’s Story
- Allison’s Story
- Friends Across the Ages
- About This Book
- Invitation
Chapter One: Be Present
- True Colors
- Hanging Out
- Just Show Up
- The Silent Treatment
- Holding Hands
Chapter Two: Connecting and Communicating
- The Desire to Communicate
- Windows to the Soul
- The Sweet Stuff
- Effective Inefficiency
- Meeting People Where They Are
Chapter Three: Look Closer
- Ageless Identity
- First Impressions
- Seen and Known
- I Feel Pretty
- The Transformative Power of Love
Chapter Four: Give and Take
- Bring Your Troubles
- Both Sides of the Bed
- Wednesday Worries Washed Away
- Life Lessons
- I Looooovvvve You!
Chapter Five: Celebrate and Be Celebrated
- Birthday Blossoms from Florence
- The 100th Birthday Party
- Worth the Wait
- Granting Birthday Wishes
- Welcome Baby
- “B-A-B-Y”
Chapter Six: Laugh Lines
- I-19 Right Here!
- You Must Be Joking!
- Laugh at Yourself
- The Dog, the Dollar Bill, and the Dessert
- Sibling Revelry
Chapter Seven: Musical Memory
- Magical Moon River
- Soon and Very Soon
- “I Sing Because I’m Happy”
- Power in the Bird
- Musical Roads Home
- Rob’s Song
- Bridging Social Distance with Song
Chapter Eight: Living History
- 1920s Florida: Rattlesnakes and Alligators
- Rooted
- Models of a Life
- Learning about Integration
Chapter Nine: Carpe Diem
- Al and the Fire Tea
- Letting Go to Seize the Day
- The Sky’s the Limit
- A Teacher Speaks of Poetry
- Samuel and the Ring
Chapter Ten: I Will Remember You
- Remember Me
- Going on a Journey
- Now Thank We All Our God
- Left Behind
- Walking Them Home