Eavesdropping on an Interview with the Co-Authors
Daughter: Creating this book is the result of “chair chat,” the thirty-to-forty minutes Mother and I spend together every morning—she in the recliner, me on the floor at her feet.
Mother: It’s very precious time together. We share our writing, plan outdoor adventures, get to know each other better. It occurs first thing in the morning—and that’s important.
Daughter: It occurs before the necessary ‘to-do’s’ like helping her get dressed, having breakfast, slogging through exercises. Chair chat enhances the great days, gets us through the tougher ones. The most meaningful mornings are when we share our poems. That’s why we created this book.
Mother: It was a great joy to work on this book with my daughter. The book details many things that are important to me: God, family, nature, joy, my dog, life outside my window.
Daughter: During COVID, chair chat was also a time we planned “adventures,” fun things we could do together to break through the suffocating isolation of the pandemic. Initially, the focus was on visiting city and public parks—where chair chat could continue on outdoor benches. But Michigan’s weather can be limiting, particularly in the winter.
Mother: That’s true—especially since I was born in Oklahoma, spent a good portion of my youth in Texas, and the last twenty-plus years in Arizona.
Daughter: Creating a book together became an “indoor adventure.” We hope Miracle Within Small Things becomes a Mother’s Day gift from child to mother; but also, from mother to child. We hope it serves as an invitation to engage in dialogue about those things that really matter in life. And because outdoor benches make it easier to begin those conversations—when immersed in the lively, often breathtaking, never-dull world of nature—proceeds from our book will put more benches in more public spaces in Michigan communities.
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