Morning at Wellington Square
In her new memoir Susan G. Weidener writes the journey of a woman's life through love and loss with the unflinching eye of a romantic and a realist. Does true love only come once, she asks as the memory of John lingers? Her journey searching to find herself again has been compared to that of every woman.
"As life's losses mount, Susan takes an unflinchingly honest
inventory of her experiences in this authentic and engaging memoir. Through her
funny and poignant personal stories, her readers will recognize and relate to
themes of love and loss, job changes, raising kids as a single mother, the quest
to find love again and coming to terms with life - ultimately making meaning and
finding her own strength in all of it. It's a quintessential woman's story of
transforming life events into a life that is truly her own. And I love that even
with all her crazy dating experiences she never quite gives up on the idea that
she could find love again!"
"As you savor this book, you will feel as though you are having a private conversation with her . . . . you will learn as much about yourself as you do about her. For me, she put into words many of the feelings that I experienced as I searched for personal fulfillment after losing my career and my husband."
"Susan Weidener's newest offering is a welcome and satisfying follow-up to her
earlier memoir AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT. The honesty with which she deals with
sometimes difficult situations, like online dating and taking chances in new
locations with total strangers, is refreshing. I'm sure many women (and men as
well) will also find it very helpful as they deal with getting on with life
after loss. Though written as a sequel, the book definitely stands on its own as
a good read."
To order Morning at Wellington Square: Contact Susan G. Weidener at sgweidener@comcast.net or visit her Author Page at:
An excerpt:
Chapter
Three
John
What lives in my mind now is that
moment in 1977 when I first met John under white dogwood trees above the parade
field at Valley Forge Military Academy. It was the beginning of happiness . . . and
all that has come since.
The night I fell in love with him we were
sitting on the sofa in my one-bedroom apartment. The floor was strewn with copies of the
weekly newspaper where I worked as a reporter.
John asked if I wanted to go to West Point for a football game. He would
take me to Flirtation Walk which ran along the Hudson River. This was where cadets made out – and more –
with their dates, he grinned. His long dark eyelashes, the dark hair on his
wrists made me want to touch him, feel his lips on mine. His deep set brown eyes
locked onto mine as if he had read my thoughts.
He
told me he fell in love the moment he saw me that day at Valley Forge. For the first time in my life, I felt what it
was like to be adored for who Susan was, not who Susan pretended to be. I could say anything I wanted and he thought
it was fine, interesting, amusing.
On
our first Valentine’s Day his beautiful flowing script adorned a huge pink and
red card with hearts and doves. A
lovesick lion gazed out from behind the bars of his cage. “To my favorite
reporter. To put it mildly, I love you
wildly,” John wrote.
John
wore his heart on his sleeve. For that alone
I loved him passionately.
Two
children and sixteen years of marriage later, death stole our dream of growing
old together. As English writer Julian Barnes said, “For sorrow there is no
remedy.”
For
the dead do not return, they only haunt our memories.
We buried John with full military honors in the Catholic cemetery
at West Point, high above the Hudson River where years before he and I had held
hands along Flirtation Walk. It was a
brilliant Indian summer day in October.
I remember being handed the American flag. I remember my grief-stricken parents as my
husband’s coffin was lowered into the ground.
I remember Alex and Daniel running up and down the lobby of the Thayer Hotel
where we were staying. The boys seemed
oblivious to the magnitude of the event.
I was too numb to accept it.
2 comments:
Great post, Susan. Thank you for sharing. I am one of those who definitely believes true love only comes once in a lifetime. There may be many loves but only one TRUE love.
Thanks, Sharla. I think one of the main reasons I wrote my memoirs is to come to terms with that ... true love only comes once. Although my time with John was a short 17 years, I am probably luckier than most in that at least I had true love once. And in that realization comes much healing. Now my journey has led to another "love," which is in writing and coaching other women to write their stories.
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