I thought about this the other day, after I’d already posted the blog on managing anxiety, and wished I’d included it on the list.  As a kid, I used to frequently visit my Aunt Mimi and one of my favorite things to do with her was head to her friend’s garden nursery for what Aunt Mimi called “flower therapy.”

We wandered the aisles of the greenhouses, my eyes soaking in the colors and light and textures, my nose breathing in the scents, my fingers stroking the variety of green leaves.  And I consciously felt my heart beat more slowly, and a tingle move through my hands, and an awakening happen in my soul.

It wasn’t a conscious choice when I started doing it with my kids.  The greenhouses just happen to be on the way home from school.  “Wanna stop for some flower therapy,” I asked one afternoon and they’ve been asking me ever since.  (It helps that the greenhouse passes out free popcorn and cookies!)

From there, we went to the yarn shop where our eyes feasted on the rolled-up skeins of wool, too many colors to even imagine, all stacked in their wooden crates.  And the local fruit stand, where the array of color, when we stop to notice, is on full display right before our eyes.

That seems to be it.  The noticing.  Because what I have come to notice, is when I slow down enough to allow myself the time to see, the world around us is full of color and scent and texture and light, all just waiting for us to soak it in.

Thank you Aunt Mimi for giving me the eyes with which to see.

Do you have a favorite “therapy” 

“Joseph Campbell asserts that once the hero commits to his quest, whether consciously or unconsciously, then magical helpers arrive to point the way.” Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey

Some books I read. Sitting up in bed, lying on the love seat in the kitchen, leaning back in a chair in the ski lodge following the story, page after page.  But every once in a while, a book comes along that I pore over with pencil in hand, not just reading but studying, like an educational life course, marking line after line as if there will be an exam at the end.

Magical Journey is just that sort of book.  I’ve sent copies to my mom, to my sister, to my aunt, to my yoga teacher and to several friends.  I wish I could send a copy to every one of you.

Katrina writes about loss and grief and the tears that trickle down her cheeks onto her yoga mat.  And she writes about love.  When you strip everything else away, Magical Journey is about love.  It’s her story, but it’s my story, and yours, too, just in a different town, in a different kitchen, with a different family, in different circumstances.

Katrina is such an exquisite writer that I’ve been reluctant to write this post, afraid that my words could never do hers justice.  So rather than try, I’ll let Katrina’s words speak for themselves by including a few of my favorite passages. But first, I want tell you why Katrina and her books are so important to me. Because long before we met in person, Katrina had been one of those magical helpers on my journey.

You see, it was two days after Andie’s birth that I found Katrina’s first book, Mitten Strings for God in the hospital gift shop.  That book became an ever present guidepost and reminder of the gift of motherhood, teaching me to remember childhood is precious and fast and that raising my children with presence is the greatest gift I can bestow upon them and myself.

And then Katrina wrote The Gift of an Ordinary Day, chronicling her journey with her adolescent children, preparing me for what was to come (and has) in my life.

And now, Magical Journey.  It’s about her journey into mid-life, a place I have yet to reach, but a place I don’t yet need to be to feel and comprehend and devour this story.  Because Katrina has pulled the curtain so far back on her inner-emotions and feelings, at times I felt almost embarrassed to be reading such intimate details about her life.  There is so much more I could say, so much more I want to say, but instead, I will say just say this, Read this book.  It is truly a must for anyone seeking a fuller, more profound existence in life.

Katrina has generously offered a signed copy of Magical Journey for one of you and I’m giving a copy of Mitten Strings for God away to another lucky reader.  Leave a comment below and as always I’ll let Random.org do the choosing.

In the meantime, as promised, here are a few of my favorite, underlined passages from Magical Journey.

From the chapter titled Stillness, Katrina writes, “To be human and alive, it seems, is to strive and to struggle, to learn and to grow even as we endure our losses and question our ability to transcend them.  It’s easy to think we should be somewhere or someone else – smarter and wiser, or further along on the path, closer to having an answer.  Instead we muddle along, heads down, certain everyone else must know something we haven’t figured out yet.”  Oooh, I love that so much! Totally reminded of my word of the year, Enough.

And also from the chapter Stillness, “My first inclination always, when the tears start, is to jump up and get on with things…But making the choice to just hang in there with my own rather pathetic self for a while demands a different kind of perseverance altogether, a kind of strength that lays bare all of my weakness.  And so I try, day after day, not to scorn this raw, sorrowful soul, not to dry my eyes and bolt, but to settle into the darkness instead, heart open, experiencing the humiliating truth of my own silent, barren place.”  What an incredibly important lesson.

And another inspiring lesson, this one from the chapter called Going, “I learned that sometimes the best thing we can do for our children is to acknowledge our own need for help, to make room for their vulnerability by sharing our own.”

And finally, probably, my favorite line of the entire book from the chapter appropriately called Love, “Maybe all I really need to do – all anyone needs to do – is trust in what we love and continue to do that.”

It’s all about the love.  It always is, isn’t it?

If you want to order Katrina’s book, click here and if you’d like to read more of her gorgeous writing in her weekly blog posts, head on over to her website www.katrinakenison.com.

Remember to leave a comment if you want a chance to win a copy of Magical Journey or Mitten Strings and a huge congrats to Renee, the winner of the Winter Jamms Hat Giveaway!

Happy Valentine’s Day Y’all!

Publishing a book is by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  Well, outside of parenting.  But interestingly, it turns out that book publishing and birthing a baby have a lot in common.  In fact, much of my publishing process seemed to mirror what it was like having a baby in the NICU (beside the looming threat of death). So much uncertainty, lots of stomach-churning ups and downs, good news and bad news scenarios, days full of sadness and others full of hope.

And one other strikingly similar aspect of book publishing and life with a baby in the NICU, is the unexpected emergence of Angels.

The chapter in my book about Andy the cop, the angel who appeared on that snowy Boston morning and found me that parking space so I could spend a few precious moments with my daughter, seems to be a reader favorite.  And there are so many other angels who influenced our story, just as there are angels that appeared along my book publishing path.

One of the greatest and most influential angels was an organization called Hand to Hold.

Right around the time my first publishing offer fell through, I received an email from a woman named Babs who’d happened upon my website through an internet search.  Babs referred me to Kelli Kelley, the founder of Hand to Hold, who read my book and declared “We have got to get this book into every NICU in the country!”  And with the backing of a national preemie organization, I was soon on my way to securing a literary agent and a new publisher.

Needless to say, I’m incredibly devoted to Hand to Hold, but not just because of their influence in my book’s publication.  Hand to Hold’s Mission is about helping preemie parents heal, so their babies can do the same.  They focus on providing peer-to-peer support by matching “graduated” preemie parents to act as mentors to those just beginning their experience.  I often wonder how different my own experience might have been if Hand to Hold had existed twelve years ago.

Which is why I am so thrilled to announce my participation in Hand to Hold’s fundraising campaign called For the Love of Babies.  As a participant in their Snoball Challenge, I will donate all my proceeds from Preemie book sales through the months of February and March.

But I need your help to make this a success!

How can you help?

1.) Share the news on your Facebook page and Twitter feed. Copy the link to this page and paste it right into your newsfeed.  http://www.kaseymathews.com/a-hand-to-hold/

2.) Post a review of Preemie on Amazon.

3.) Email a few friends and tell them why you think they would enjoy reading Preemie.

4.) Choose Preemie as your book group selection. I’ve shown up for several groups that were within driving distance and Skyped with those that were not.  The wine and discussion were wonderful in all instances!

5.) Consider giving Preemie as a gift.  More and more, I’m receiving letters from those who’ve had no personal experience with premature birth, yet find the universal life lessons found in the book both healing and transformative.  I can mail you a signed book plate if you’d like the book personalized.

6.) Donate a copy to your NICU.  Again, I’ll happily send a signed book plate.

7.) Finally, Donate directly to Hand to Hold’s campaign!

And please, If you have questions, thoughts or suggestions, leave them in the comment section below or email me directly at prematurejourney@gmail.com.  I look forward to hearing from you and thank you so much your support.

With blessings and gratitude,

Kasey