Book Three, "Sweet Summer Rain" is at the editors and I'm writing Book four in my Season’s series, Wind of Change.
I can guarantee you one thing, Connie and JJ get married but, I, as well as you, are anxious to know where life leads these three couples.
I,
also, would like to explain why, “Sweet Summer Rain” didn’t get published in
August of 2018.
I
finished “A Different Season” in August of 2016. And continued, as usual
writing on “Mist of the Moment” and it was done in August of 2017. I continued,
again, as usual on “Sweet Summer Rain.”
And
that’s when my life stopped. My son, and it brings me to tears to say my son,
Christopher Glen Nichols, was diagnosed with Calciphylaxis and given six months
to live. Chris was at deaths door for the continual six months. His wife,
Marilyn quit work to just be with him. He was in and out of the hospitals as
his body fought the disease.
If you know me, I write my life. I cannot seem to write something I haven’t lived. So, the following was “Sweet Summer Rain” during Chris’ fight to survive dated February 2018 but wasn't published.
SWEET SUMMER RAIN
CONSTANCE LOUISE SINCLAIR
Weary
and worn, I awake to the unthinkable.
How could this have happened, Lord? I rise and listlessly walk the usual
path, indeed the ordinary steps of life I repeat day after day. As I open the drapes and thank God for the
sunshine instead of the miserable twelve-degree temperature of the last few
weeks my heart screams out to God asking for understanding and for my friend as
she faces the first day empty, alone and depleted.
Connie’s
mind reverts to the happenings of prior days where her dear friend, Rosie, with
dreams unrealized, barren and lost, watched as the tiny coffin was lowered into
the ground. Connie shivers and recalls
as Rosie fell to her knees on the unyielding frozen earth removing her only son
from her forever.
I do bible studies every morning and one was on Rahab and the red cord of protection she hung out her window. I said, Lord I can do that, and I hung a red ribbon in my front window.
Then
I read about the woman with the blood issues and her healing after touching the
hem of Jesus’ garment. So, I placed a white ribbon with the red.
The
next was Jesus Calling and the gold cord of faith and hope. I placed the gold ribbon, and it curled around the red and white.
Chris
called and said, “Mom, I think I’m feeling a little better today.”
I
told him about the ribbons as he continued to not thrive, not improve but just
endure, just be. When he was sick, he would be in bed. When he wasn’t sick, he
would be up cooking, doing and just being alive for that moment.
On
September 3, 2021, Christopher Glen Nichols walked or as he said, strolled my
last granddaughter to marry down the aisle in Sedgwick, Kansas. We all
commented it was like a family reunion without going to a funeral. He felt
remarkable. Was lively and joking, as always. Lots of pictures. Thank you, Lord
for the pictures.
The
kids left for a two-week honeymoon and one week to the day on September 10,
2021, Chris passed of a heart attack. I don’t remember much about the funeral, but I do remember the heartache of watching my only son’s casket being lowered
into the cold dark earth.
On
a brighter note. Trey and Kelsie welcomed twins, August 23, 2022. A boy and a
girl. What blessings.
Back
to "Sweet Summer Rain". I had the small excerpt mentioned above and that book
over two thirds done when Chris seemed to be getting better. I stopped writing
on it and about three years later I started another "Sweet Summer Rain", and the child lives but in real life the child doesn’t.
I
knew I couldn’t be sad because of the blessing of my son being in my life,
sooooo I took partial book one and partial book two and shuffled them together.
I felt so good. So good because I could write what Chris did as a baby, like
when he was asleep, I could move his bed and sweep under and around him and he
never woke. These parts are my healing just as Book 1, "A Different Season", was
my healing through Glen’s passing. I can tell you that I loved Glen with my whole
body and soul but when it is your child it is a whole different pain. So, I
thank you my dear sweet readers for letting me write for you. Your
encouragement is beyond words, and I am anxious to continue the series with "Wind
of Change".