5/1/17, “Against All Odds”
Hi Everyone,
Today is a special day, for a couple of reasons. I hope you’ve had a good week with lots of good things happening. I always love May Day, it was a wonderful holiday when I was a little girl, and I still love it as an adult. As I’ve mentioned to you before, in France (where May Day is Labor Day), the custom is to give those you care about (friends, family, or loves) a sprig of lily of the valley. It’s my favorite flower and the smell is heavenly!! And in Paris, on every street corner, vendors are selling sprigs of lily of the valley for people to give to friends or loved ones. And when you get a little sprig of lily of the valley from someone, it is supposed to bring you luck!! I always give a dinner party on May 1st, with close friends, and give each of them a little vase of lily of the valley to take home with them.
May 1st is particularly special to me because it’s also my son Nick’s birthday. The day always reminds me of all the wonderful birthday parties we had for him. An almost life size cake, shaped like a whole person, of his favorite singer at the time: Prince. (He was also Prince for Halloween when he was 5 or 6—-he had very advanced taste in music for his age, and later became a musician, singer, and composer. When he dressed up as Prince, he wore a black wig, boots, and wore a lavender and red lame sparkly disco outfit of mine, from my younger days!! One year we had a cake that was a life size cake version of his favorite skateboard. We went all out for birthdays and holidays!! He LOVED his birthdays!! So although it is always bittersweet that he is no longer here, it’s the anniversary of a happy day, and I invite 10 or 12 of my closest friends, and I celebrate him in my heart, and it’s nice being with friends on that night.
Tomorrow is going to be a special day too. My newest Book, “Against All Odds”, is coming out tomorrow. It’s about a widowed woman, single Mom of four adult children in their 20’s and 30’s—-and the disastrous relationships they get into, thinking that they can “beat the odds”. It’s hard or even impossible to beat the odds (someone wins the lottery, but no one I know!!)—-if it looks like it’s going to be a disaster, more than likely it will be. It’s about each of the four children’s relationships, and how challenging it is for parents to watch their kids make dangerous choices—-and there’s nothing you can do about it. The situations they get into are very varied, and how they face their challenges is exciting. I hope you love it, and maybe you can relate to it as a parent. We’ve all been there in one form or another, watching our kids grow up!! Have a GREAT week!!
love, Danielle
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Je crois que je vais être obligée de lire vos derniers livres en anglais ! Ils me font trop envie !
Joli mois de mai à vous !
Genevieve
Danielle,
I found these quotes in the comment section of the movie “Collateral Beauty”. It is just a couple of the ones posted on my blog which brought brought me comfort. The movie was was panned by the critics. But I found healing in it.
Though I can’t imagine your loss they helped me after losing my surrogate father. Perhaps they will do the same for you.
The Love is still there and you are still connected to Nick through it. Thank you for sharing Nick with us. You are beautiful and strong.
“COLLATERAL BEAUTY” – Movie (What is the meaning?)
1. “Where there is no beginning and end… that love doesn’t have to stop when life ends because death is just a symbolic beginning – for the ones left behind to live and love life. That in death, there is love.
Time is a concept. There is no beginning, no end. We only feel time when we feel it in our bodies. Time is set to measure existence. But really, what is time? Real time is when you interact with the people you love to create an impact, to live a life full of love, not even death can conquer.
Love transcends time, and death. And in death, there is love. And in time, there’s no death – if we are filled with love with the people we love who loves us back, unconditionally…
We are all connected.”
2. “The meaning is simple, the damage of a child’s death is so dark and severe that a parent cannot see the full picture because of the tragedy. It may take a lifetime to understand that within that dark and ugly place there was a beauty and love there so strong that not even death could dishevel it
… that in fact, the beauty is that love continues even after and through death and the impact of that trauma brings us closer to the love that we shared for that person and all the ways love of that individual has affected our lives and the lives of others. The secondary beauty that has an everlasting ripple effect on other peoples lives and through eternity is what living is truly about. All about the quality and not so much the quantity. Life is a teacher and Love is the reward in all its forms. When we can see love where darkness used to reside we can finally turn our lives and those around us into something glorious.”
Truth, Wisdom, Love and Sincerity,to ALL Mankind.
Rob Scott
Oaxaca, Mexico
Message from Nam. At 75 years of age I thought I had put all the memories of Vietnam away many years ago. But finding your book brought them all back. I was 23 and working for the RMK BRJ office at Navy base in San Bruno, Ca; We were the contractors who built all the necessary needs of the U.S, military in VN, the ports, air strips, etc. Your fiction story was wonderful, but how you wrote of what really took place over there as far as the “conflict” was the truth and not what the world was told, particularly the people in the United States. Thank you for the research you must have done, and for opening up my mind and heart again for those young people who gave their lives, limbs, and minds for a less than honorable part of our history. I heard so many stories of what was really going on from 1965-1970 and it just didn’t make sense in what the news reported. The tears fall for those brave young innocents, not only for what they faced over there but also what they faced when they came back home. Thank you and God bless you for taking the time to share your research on a subject many of our politicians would rather still kick under the rug. A great story and a greater reveal of our history.
I just finished reading “Against All Odds” and it really hit home with me. I have written an autobiographical account of my 43-year marriage, which almost mirrored Julie’s story. My husband, who passed away in 1994, was controlling, mentally and physically abusive, and, in spite of the fact that I was a virgin when we met and was completely faithful to him, continually accused me of having affairs. I have often been asked why I stayed with him. I hope to expand my story into a novel, and if it helps just one battered wife to leave her abuser, will make me very happy. A high school graduate, with completely destroyed self-esteem and four children, two years apart, I had no where to go, nor any hope of supporting my children – one of whom committed suicide at the age of 21. I lived in fear every day, and knew that if I did leave him, he would assume I ran off with another man, and come after me and kill me. Fortunately, I found my “Mr. Wonderful” when I was 70 years old, and we have been happily married for 14 years, with never a cross word or argument in all that time.
I eagerly look forward to the release of every Danielle Steel book, and am always sorry when I finish reading each one because they bring me so many happy hours.