Thoughts on Being Yourself…
With a gentle cadence and a soul connected to the created world, Cynthia is not only the writer of this lovely story (Old Bess), but she’s also a trustworthy guide who will take you by your hand and lead you on a search, ready to help you give birth to your own stories.
-Al Andrews, Counselor-
Author Founder, and Ambassador of Porter’s Call
I have known Al Andrews for almost 40 years and I most definitely have a friend crush on this man. Just google him and look at his face! It still reflects his welcoming, magnanimous, and kind soul. Not surprisingly, his impact from just being himself, is wide and far. He is a man who follows his heart and desires.
We knew each other in graduate school and have sporadically kept in touch over the decades. We both married, had children, careers, and in the last few years, as I have begun the process of writing children’s books, reconnected. He was charitable enough to write the above praise for Old Bess a few years ago.
Al was instrumental in re-igniting my love of children’s books and reading aloud. He was “infamous” in our graduate program for pulling out meaningful children’s books and reading them to individuals in his musical and warm voice on a mountain, rock, by a lake, or at a party. He proposed to his wife with one of my favorites: The Pirate Who Tried to Capture the Moon by Dennis Haseley. He introduced me to a whole new genre of teen fiction and I was hooked: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. He still sends me his favorite musicians, concert recommendations, books he loves (this is how I discovered Theo of Golden by Allen Levi), and general words of hospitality.
Because of Al, I have been affirmed and encouraged in my love of reading aloud to adults and seeing what it stirs. As I travel to readings, I have loved the discussions and reflections and the rustling up of desires long held at bay…for comfort, for connection, for childhood, for a canoe ride. There is a sense of community and being a part of something larger at these readings. There is hope that the crazy world can offer goodness and interdependence we so desperately crave and need.
Thanks and hugs to my generous brother, Keith, and his gracious wife, Jessica for inviting me into their community and home for a reading of Old Bess AND The Cabin. I was humbled, surprised, and blessed by the sweet cluster of thoughtful and beautiful people they curated and who came. Before reading, I voiced a desire for people to pause and be stirred… to find their own stories within themselves. I wanted them to listen to the tapping on their souls of a story that needed to be told. And they did! I heard stories reflected about canoeing as a child and of birthing calves and losing a watch in the process (eww). That afternoon we all became a part of the whole by being present and telling and holding stories…And we were just being ourselves!