I think of books out there like A Child Called It or Go Ask Alice and how either the person who wrote it, how’d they do it knowing family secrets would be revealed or how did the person who allowed Alice’s journal to be published how they felt about revealing all this girl’s most private thoughts when she was alive.
They probably did it for the same reason as I’m telling Mari’s story that by sharing their most intimate details of what happened in that person’s life that somehow maybe they might help another person to either understand or to have them know someone else understands.
With Mari’s story, my sincerest hope is that people will be able to see that no matter how hard the tragedy is, and what you go through during it, that God will be there giving you the strength to not only get through but to make it afterword. I know I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for this. Keith and I are happy. We were able to work through the difficult times, and trust me there were some, and be okay in the end. We’re different people than we were before Mari died, but I think that’s to be expected. Don’t we all change some with anything that happens in our lives, both the good and the bad. It’s what makes us into who we are today.
In all these years since Mari’s death, I have not been able to write about my little angel in heaven. I often think of her as this little angel with a beautiful white basket full of yellow daisies skipping around for God and Jesus and throwing daisies to help adorn their feet. I am sure she looks up at her Heavenly Father and Jesus, with her adorable pixie smile and her sunshine eyes and tells them Good morning as she has her morning visit. I know they smile at this little one that lights up her world.
I miss Mari. I miss her more than I realized until something critical happened the other day and I realized how short life truly life can be. Fortunately everything is okay. Life is worth every second we are alive to breathe. I thank God for the 8 and 1/2 years we had Mari on this earth to hear about her shenanigans, happenings, and her world that was so joyful to her even though looking from the outside in, there were many terror times, many times a fear about her safety and times when it was just necessary to laugh. I do know I am thankful there was a Mari and I am thankful she was my granddaughter.
Mom, we all love her and miss her very much. Beautiful words for a beautiful little angel in heaven.
Kris, I think you are right that the author of A Boy Called It and the author of Go Ask Alice are writing their story for others to read to let a world know that what they experienced in life was a horrifying part of life perpetrated by a parent. They help give abused people a voice he/she might not have if each book had not been written. What makes your writing so similar is you are letting us know about Mari and what it was like to be a parent of an autistic child giving those experiences you had a voice for some one else to read. When you give that voice, you give something so precious that it could not be found anywhere else. Once my book about stopping child is published, the research that has been done suggests that it is not only giving a voice to those who have been abused, but to those who have no real idea what abuse is and to those who might think twice about whether to turn his/her back on a child going through abuse to say something instead of turning his/her back. Your writing is truly touching the multitudes in beautiful and wonderful ways.