From the author of I Wanted to Grow Old With You and A Widow’s Words comes a new collection of empowering poems and essays focused on life, love, and gaining wisdom and self-confidence as we age. My Story is a compelling memoir composed of more than one hundred poems and essays that explore the author’s life, inner conflict, and eventual journey to self-acceptance.

This often poignant and frequently humorous collection explores issues that plagued the author in her childhood and teens and how the birth of her son became the catalyst that pushed her to triumph over anxiety, self-sabotage, and negative self-image, and ultimately to a journey of self-discovery. The memoir touches on profound themes including generational trauma, anxiety, and widowhood, but also captures the joys of motherhood, the delights of love and marriage, valuable life lessons, and overcoming our inner critic to achieve body positivity and self-love.

Seniors will especially appreciate the poems devoted to the unpredictability of dating over sixty, the joys of grandparenting, and coming to terms with aging. Beautifully written, My Story is an honest personal account of one woman’s life journey that will resonate with anyone who has battled lifetime insecurities to achieve personal growth, self-acceptance, and inner peace.

A perfect gift for:Poetry loversWomen and men of all agesSeniors coming to terms with agingAnyone in search of positive and empowering booksGift-givers in search of unique presents~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOST IN TRANSLATIONIf love languages are a real thing Then my father and IWere from different countriesHe was from the land ofYou have a roof over your headAnd food on the tableAnd want for nothingWhile I work overtime to pay for itOn my one day off, I cut the lawnBefore cooking the Sunday dinnerAnd when you’re older, and your son has no dad,I’ll fill that role, tooBut I was from a different landStarved for affirmationAware of every criticismLonging for words he rarely saidI needed to hear “I love you”And now, I understandThat’s exactly what he was saying~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DNAI view the whole pictureChance and fateThe ancestors who metWhile living their own journeysSome desired a new landChanneled the wind in their sailsIn pursuit of better livesSeeking fortunes unknownEnglishScottishGermanFrenchCanadianIrishAmericanThat all of them collided and becamethe greatconstellationof myancestrySeems miraculousWe are all the product ofa millionsplit-seconddecisions byHundreds of forebearsThose lucky survivors ofstormswarsfamines andplaguesWe are the result ofcenturiesoflovestoriesSuddenly,I feeluniquelymeant to be~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Katherine Billings Palmer is an author, poet, essayist, and retired technical writer from Garden City, Michigan. Her essays have won numerous writing awards and she's been published in Westland Writes and the Bear River Review.

Following her husband’s death, she published two books about her struggles to cope with grief: I Wanted to Grow Old With You and A Widow’s Words. She is a guest blogger for the Hope for Widows Foundation and writes about her grief journey at www.

TheWritingWidow. com.

Her biography and blog can be found at www. TheWritingWoman.

com. She also posts and reads her poetry on Tiktok @thewritingwoman.

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