Grief

WROTE IT! PUBLICATION DATE = SOON!

~ chamberslife ~ Leave a comment
I showed up, wore a crown, slept less, thought more, got crazier, and wrote my memoir.

THE SUMMARY:

Belynda’s recipe for life, Beauty Queen Blues, is an intimate (at times raw) memoir told from her creative, curious, crazy point of view. 

From her mother she learned proper etiquette, explicit self-control, and how to sew. Her devil-may-care dad crossed more than a few boundaries. He taught her all about the seven deadly sins and how to create memorable cuisine—all while maximizing her flirting techniques. Her two older sisters and one brother were jealous of her being the do-no-wrong baby of the family, but they loved her too—as much as they knew how to love. The Chambers clan was always laughing mostly with each other but sometimes at each other. 

Crowned a queen in Memphis at 17, Belynda became a popular public personality, recognized for her figuremore than for her self. She showed up, wore her crown, and spoke up for St. Jude’s children, women’s rights, and the environment. Obsessed, determined, driven to find her comfortable spot in the world, she questioned her religion, race, gender, and discovered that her Southern roots didn’t quite fit. 

Beauty Queen Blues is a life-changing love story. Two marriages, three daughters, dozens of countries, infinite laughs, delectable food, numerous metaphysical events, broken bones, brains and hearts pack Belynda’s life with divine grace and love. To feed her love of cooking for others, she became a chef. Recipes—sensual ones that promise to please—are included.

As she peels away the years writing—remembering those she loved anyway even though they were really messed up, she has several epiphanies. Love your life sooner is just one of them. Maybe, just maybe, being crazy is a good thing. 

A MUST READ – Please share!

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Ready for a good page turner that just might change your life? Galli’s story made me want to be more inspiring – to show up a bit more with passion and compassion. One of the inspiring things I would like to do is to tell you about her book, Rethinking Possible. Please read it and share it. Enjoy!

Rethinking Possible   (for her Book and website)

Rebecca Faye Smith Galli was born into a family that valued the power of having a plan. With a pastor father and a stay-at-home mother, her 1960s southern upbringing was bucolic―even enviable. But when her brother, only seventeen, died in a waterskiing accident, the slow unraveling of her perfect family began.

Though grief overwhelmed the family, twenty-year-old Galli forged onward with her life plans―marriage, career, and raising a family of her own―one she hoped would be as idyllic as the family she once knew.

But life had less than ideal plans in store.

 

Look for Thoughtful Thursdays on her website too. Sign up for once a week inspiration.

 

 

 

Phone Heaven Today

~ chamberslife ~ Leave a comment
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   I called my sister Mary last week. We talked of the rainbows she sends to me; how she loves pizza and she eats all she wants now; how it was her fault that Mom’s bird Penny died. Bob, her blue-eyed love, is golfing daily. We exchange some recipe. She rants, as always, about people who leave their grocery carts wild in the parking lots. We end with the agreement that, “At any given time, we all do our best.”
These days after I talk to my sister, knowing I have to hang up, I weep. This particular day after I talked to her, I tried to push my iphone’s red circle, the one with the white old timey phone handset, to hang up. Mary just started laughing out loud. From heaven.
 
A few days later on NPR I heard about this phone booth in Japan:
The Wind Phone in Japan  
I am certain Mary sent the Wind Phone info to me.
 
For all of you who have lost a loved one, maybe call them today. I believe they can answer.
They never hang up.