Seven years ago, the unimaginable happened. Randy Polk passed away, died, was gone from this life at 53 years old. The night he died, I wrote my first personal story notifying everyone via Facebook. Hundreds of caring comments came back, all with heartfelt condolences. Some people reminded me of stories about Randy, and some assured me they would pray for my family and me. All were shocked, and all would miss him. I had no way of knowing that I would later read and reread those comments as a tool to help me take my next breath.
After a few days, I started keeping a journal, not with any plan in mind, only because it helped me process my grief. When I couldn’t breathe, or talk, or stop crying, I still could write, and although it didn’t exactly help, it helped me get to the next moment, which promised to be better because it couldn’t get much worse.
Eventually, I started writing stories about Randy for my kids to read to comfort them and me. I longed to give people reminders about Randy because I was not ready to quit talking about him. Nervously I posted a “Randy” story on Facebook and waited with bittersweet anticipation for comments. The new wave of “I miss him too,” and compassion continued to help me. What I didn’t anticipate was my Facebook followers telling me that the stories helped them too. I loved quoting Randy and reminding people how amazing he was.
As I wrote more stories, the number of people telling me that I should write a book continued to grow. It took me six years to be emotionally ready to share a part of my story. It took me another year to complete the task. Writing my first book was hard work, and it took a toll emotionally, but it also brought tremendous healing.
I hope that you will laugh, and cry, and remember Randy. For those who didn’t get the pleasure of knowing Randy, I hope you enjoy the introduction. For my companions in grief, I am sorry that we have that in common. If this memoir eases even one person’s pain even for a moment, then I have done what I set out to do. Remember to love now because now is all we are promised.
You can pre-order the Kindle edition now on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Grief-Survivor…/dp/B08KNW8WRT/
The paperback edition will also be available on Amazon starting November 15th!
Marla Kane Polk 