Treasuring the Good by Lucinda Race

As we approach the end of 2022 seeing it in the rearview mirror will be bittersweet for me. There has been a great deal of change in my life over the last twelve months and I’ve discovered I am stronger than I knew I was. At times my shoulders have sagged with what I perceived to be a burden but I’ve changed my perspective. In many ways 2022 was a blessing for me.

Not to share my sadness sad but my husband passed away in the spring after a brief illness. We had many plans for our future. I was heartbroken, lost and confused. What should I do next, how would I cope with the loss of this good man?

Instead of dwelling on what I have lost I’m treasuring all the good that we shared. We traveled in our camper that we called our cottage on wheels. We gardened together, and spent time with our toes in the warm sand at the beach. But I think our best times were sitting on the back porch at the end of a warm summer day, with a cool drink in our hand and the air heavy with the scent of the roses in bloom. For the last twelve years he dug up sod, dug flower gardens and created a haven for me filled with colorful roses, happen to be my favorite flowers. But if truth be told, I love all the flowers he planted, from early spring with bulbs popping up through what is left of the snow, until the last rose has bloomed. I’m surrounded by all that my husband created for me.

In addition to the gardens he encouraged me to put fingertips to a keyboard and write to fulfill a dream. The first full length book I wrote was a tribute to how we fell in love, he was the inspiration for Ray. Each book I write has bits of who he was woven into them, his easy going manner, the contemplative moods and always ready to spend time with our family, friends, and each other.

In the last many months that I’ve learned to carry on, some days are easier than others. But through it all I’m still writing and releasing romance books and I’m even moving into writing cozy mystery. As he once said to me, “Why not write a mystery? You certainly read enough of them.”

As I continue moving forward I’ll strive to share my stories in the off chance that someone can take a piece of my characters and find a refuge, a happy place where characters will get their happily ever after.

Please visit my website at www.lucindarace.com
to learn more about my books. And if you want to check out the story that started it all, go to your favorite book retailers for Lost and Found, McKenna Family Romance.

Happy reading and remember to sparkle.

~*~

Award-winning and best-selling author Lucinda Race is a lifelong fan of fiction. As a young girl, she spent hours reading mystery and romance novels and getting lost in the fun and hope they represent. While her friends dreamed of becoming doctors and engineers, her dreams were to become a writer—a novelist.

As life twisted and turned, she found herself writing nonfiction but longed to turn to her true passion. After developing the storyline for the McKenna Family Romance series, it was time to start living her dream. Her fingers practically fly over computer keys she weaves stories about with mystery and happily ever afters.

Lucinda lives with her two little dogs, a miniature long hair dachshund and a shitzu mix rescue, in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts. When she's not at her day job, she’s immersed in her fictional worlds. And if she’s not writing mystery, suspense and romance novels, she’s reading everything she can get her hands on.