Nearly five years ago, I was visiting New York’s Hudson River Valley. It was a seemingly normal fall Sunday afternoon. The colors were changing and air brisk. And then life as I knew it stopped. In an instant, I was struck by a nearly thousand pound tree limb, breaking my neck and leaving me unconscious.
I didn’t walk away from the freak accident, but I did get to the hospital in time to stabilize me, monitor my brain swelling, and eventually have neurosurgery for my fractured C-7 vertebrae. I was fortunate.
Here’s the tree that started When All Ball Drop.
But that’s only one part of my story. Almost simultaneously, I was hit with other hardships such as a husband living a double life and my employer forcing me to resign from my position, taking away my professional identity.
Over a lengthy recovery far away from South Florida, which was home at the time, I had a forced pause to reflect on my life’s path. I was on the wrong path. I was juggling so many balls, I hadn’t noticed.
I fought to build myself back piece by piece. As a result, I redesigned the life I wanted, having it all: health, love, and career, but on my terms not society’s.
At first, I thought that I had been at the wrong place at the wrong time when I was taken out by that tree, but actually I was at the right place at the right time.
I wrote When All Balls Drop: The Upside to Losing Everything to share my story with others in need of a life change or those going through a hardship such as a health scare, bad relationship, or career loss. I dedicate the book to women who want it all: love, health, and career. May you be happy, confident, and living your dreams in spite of whatever gets in your way.
If you haven’t already purchased a copy of When All Balls Drop, you can get my book at Amazon or your favorite online book seller; however, I also have placement in various bookstores around the country.
In fact, if you live in Hudson River Valley or are visiting the area for the fall color change, please visit Oblong Books & Music Rhinebeck. It’s a quaint village with only one stoplight, which is the setting for a very important vignette in my book, “Calling the Cops on My Birthday.”
As the take-away of the book and my typical send-off,
Here’s to looking up!
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