Letters to the Moon....

Cancer. It can be a terrifying word. I know I was terrified when my mother told me that she had cancer. I remember being caught up in the word-“cancer.” I did not know my mother’s condition, that there were 4 stages of cancer, which stage my mother was in, what her course of treatment would be, or anything else. The first word that people think of when they hear the word cancer is “death.” At least that was the first word I thought of. Up to that point in my life, my brief history with cancer was death. Three friends of mine had cancer and did not survive. When my friends battled their cancers, I sent them greeting cards, to let them know I was thinking of them. “Why send them a greeting card?” you might ask. Quite simply, it was the only thing I knew to do. I felt helpless. I could not control the situation, the progression of the disease, or what was happening. The only thing I could do for them was to send a greeting card to express my concern, encouragement,...

"Hello Luna"-(a Letter to the Moon) Hello Luna, my dear friend. How are you? How have you been? Thank you for stopping by the other night for a visit.  I am sorry that I was not able to visit with you that night.  I am sorry that I have not written in a while, and have been "radio silent" recently. I have not been well at all. The start of 2014 has been challenging for me, in terms of my health.  I have been sick for weeks. Everything began about a month ago, when I went to get an inoculation for influenza. I knew I should have gotten the shot earlier in winter; however I was confident that I would still be protected from the flu virus. When I got the flu shot, the doctor said it would take 2 weeks before the shot would take effect. I did not know that until he said it. Still, I had a sense of security, knowing I was doing the right thing, getting the flu shot at all. It proved to be a false sense of security. Two weeks later-to the day-I became ill, wi...

I am currently working on the finishing touches, the last few details, on my first book of poetry. The book is called “I am Hope”, a collection of my first poems, many of which never made it to either of my blogs. I am in the last stages of getting the book ready for publication. After “I am Hope” is published,  I will publish a book of the same poetry in Spanish. My second book, “the Bigger Picture”, will be the next to be released. It too will have a Spanish version. The books will be available in print and in electronic versions. When I set out to create my own publishing company, I originally thought that I would publish all of my books of poetry at the same time. To have two books come out in English and in Spanish-in both print and electronic versions-at the same time would have been a monumental effort. It is stressful enough publishing one book! Now that I know all that goes into the making of a book, I will never look at a book the same way again. There are so man...