Tomorrow Comes

Blogs, funny things, sharing photos, snippets of life, stories.

But sometimes, just sometimes blogging brings wonderful things, things which make you think, yes that was just meant to be.

3 months ago a email pinged into my inbox, short and sweet it asked for my permission to use a photo of mine.

This isn't the first time I've been contacted about photos on my site, but Rod was so much more friendly than most, I replied asking him what he wanted to use the photo for, and said I'd happily discuss it.

He sent me back a email which struck deep into my heart, he and his wife had suffered the loss of their youngest daughter, who died whilst sleeping, suddenly, unexpectedly aged just 19  in the summer of 2011, and since her untimely death his wife, Donna, had found a way of coping via writing a book, and they would very much would like to use the photo they had found on my blog as the front cover.

This photo.

From this post I wrote a year ago about my wonderful friend Carol.  that post is one which I wrote on the day I found out Carole had lost her battle with cancer, and I was pondering how life takes us in different directions and the paths we cross lead us  to certain people who have such an impact on your life. A coincidence maybe, that it was that post, that brought my path to cross with Rods.

So I gave Rod permission to use my photo should he choose, and he promised to send me a copy of the book once it was printed.

A month or two later after exchanging emails again, Rod told me they had decided to take a more personal slant on the cover, but had been very inspired by my photo.

The new cover is wonderful, it includes a photo of Emma, and her dog Duck along with a sky shot taken at Emma sister, Sarahs, 30th birthday.

A much more fitting cover, for such a personal book.  Yet I was still pleased to have helped inspire the image.

Rod promised to send me a copy of the book, as soon as he had some printed, and he said he wanted to still credit me as inspiration of the cover.

Weeks passed and I hadn't heard from Rod for a while, then just the other day a parcel landed on my door mat. Lacey, our new pup, brought it upstairs which is slightly unusual as she is abit of a pain and tends to chew things up as far away from us as possible, but this morning she brought it right into our room, I picked it up and was thrilled to find a copy of Tomorrow Comes- An Emmas Story inside.

I started reading it that night, and it is a beautifully written story, Donna has done such justice to her daughter and surely made the whole family extremely proud. The worlds are heartwarming and captivating.

Within minutes you really do feel like you know this family, you can sense the love they all share.

The story tells a tale of Emma waking up in the 'After' a new life, and is told from the view points of several people, including Emma and her family who remain in the now.

The writing style is not like any other book I've read, it is poignant and awe inspiring. Fact and fiction mingled in a tone that makes you truly want to believe it is all real. The grief and pain of the family coming to terms with their daughters death, and the uplift sense that life can go on.

It makes you smile and cry, fills you with true emotion. I guess because it was wrote with raw heart felt emotion as Donna tries to continue without her daughter. The reality of the thoughts and feeling of the family as they deal with all that grief throws at them, bravely captured into a story with an underlying sence of love.

I urge everyone to please take a look at this book, buy it, read it - share it with someone you know who might want to read it, the topic may be a raw one, and you will be hard pushed not to shed some tears, but this book is filled with love, hope and inspiring warmth, reminding you how important friends and family truly are, and how love never stops.

I am so very proud to have been just a tiny part of making this book a reality for the Mebane family -  A truly brave endeavour for Donna sharing her story with everyone, and a fine show of skill from Rod pulling it all together and getting it published, and of course a wonderful testament to their daughter, Emma, whos caring fun loving nature is sure to inspire everyone to be better, live better, live life  to its fullest, even without meeting her in person.  A wonderful family who I am so pleased to be able to say I know, even just slightly from hundreds of miles away and even if only ever via email, all thanks to my blog.

Tomorrow Comes is available from Amazon  priced at a little under £8 - Please go and purchase your copy. - Tomorrow Comes - An Emma Story or show the family support on their facebook page, or visit their website StarshineGalaxy.com Or share this with someone who you think might be comforted by the touching story and possibility that life can go on.