Kathy, looking “golfish” in her hat, Sandy and I, in non golf attire, spent a couple of hours playing at Spy Hill Golf Course in Pebble Beach. No, we did not fly to California. Our cars were the mode of transportation to Bass Rocks Golf Club in Gloucester MA a few miles from our homes.
Unlike our fellow members, AKA the snowbirds, who have taken flight to warmer climates, the simulator is our way of staying connected to the game and working on our skills.
It was a well-deserved break. Kathy, Sandy, and the other 20 “taxi drivers” have been working on spreading the word about Taxi to America. They are calling on their friends and families, informing them of the up-and-coming release date (February 22), asking them to preorder and to share the information with their friends. They are using various methods to accomplish our goal; social media posts, making requests to libraries to put the book on their shelf, they approach organizations and restaurants requesting book signing events.
So, playing a little bit of golf was great.
I am grateful for my taxi drivers who are keeping me company on this part of my journey.
Also grateful for the advance readers who delivered a testimonial to be included in the book not only with a short notice but also during Thanksgiving week.
I would like to share the unedited testimonial by Maureen Burge.
Stella Nahatis takes us on a tumultuous journey of how multiple losses impacted her life. In Taxi to America, we find ourselves immersed in her experiences and emotions which she recounts with honesty and compassion. As children we begin to experience loss at a very young age through cartoons, movies, a move to a new home, the death of a pet and possibly the death of a person. How these losses are experienced by children depends on whether they are recognized and shared by the adults, allowed to be expressed and explored through emotions, talk and play. For Nahatis and her younger sister at ages 7 and 10, loss became deeply personal with a tragic event in 1958. The losses they endured would ultimately shape who they would become as adults. In this deeply felt story of resilience and determination we see Nahatis flourish despite all the adversities—a testament of her strength.
— Maureen Burge, MS, CLS.
Pediatric Palliative Care Child Life Specialist