Backstory to the Lottie Mae Story

Backstory to the Lottie Mae Story

Is hope most creative in darkness?

"Don't stop dreaming," shouted the brown skinned third grader as my Little Engine That Could struggled up the steep mountain side to deliver toys and candies to children on the other side. Without this experience in my Spellbinder storytelling at Deep Springs Elementary, I would not have been inspired to create a story with this theme.

If it weren't for my legal blindness (VA diagnosis: "Catastrophically Disabled") starting five years ago, I would not have qualified for the VA training in computers for blind Veterans, undertaken at Hines Blind Rehab Center in October of 2012.

If it were not for that training, I would not have started writing my first book, my spiritual memoir in 2013. If not for that, I would not have produced a guide for learning resilience in dealing with my own dark places, both growing up and as an adult. Resilience of a Dream Catcher, written for my Veteran brothers and sisters, would not have been conceived, and even if conceived, not enabled. It was through the risking of this personal storytelling, often painful, that I found the courage to continue.

If not for that practice in using Zoom Text on this new VA laptop, and learning to format for kindle and print, I would not have been enabled to write stories featuring themes of finding hope, courage and resilience.

If not for that striving in using stories, while continuing in Spellbinders storytelling, I would not have conceived my children's book. Without my grandkids serious health issues and setbacks, I would not have conceived a story for special needs kids. Without my own blindness, I would not have been spurred to designed the story for adults also facing loss..

Moreover, my grandkid's coaching plus the generous feedback, support and encouragement of storytelling friends have helped shape this story to its present form.

Therefore, my blindness, my dark places in growing up, my grandkids health challenges, and my storytelling experience, have all worked to invite and spur my heart to, hopefully, reach those with special needs with a message of hope, courage and resilience.

Is hope most creative when it finds itself in darkness, needing to connect with others yearnings, in particular, those of children? Perhaps life is not a problem to be solved, but instead, a great mystery to be embraced, lived and loved with heart

I could not have imagined a sequence of events as unlikely yet as lucky as this. Are we most likely to hear the nightingale sing in the deep darkness just before the first light of dawn, or just the robin at the kitchen window announcing, after a restless night, that daytime has arrived?