WHEN WILL IT STOP HURTING? & Giveaway

 

"When will it stop hurting?": One man's journey through grief

by Glenn Cameron

 

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GENRE: Memoir

 

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BLURB:

 

Crystle was the love of his life. For thirty-six years they had done everything together. As retirement approached all he could think of was spending even more time with his beautiful wife, growing old together. Just three years earlier they had sold their home in the Toronto area and moved to Niagara in preparation for retirement. Then on her 58th birthday, Crystle was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. A terminal diagnosis that Glenn never allowed himself to accept. But just eight months later she had succumbed to her illness and Glenn was thrust into a time filled with uncontrolled grief that seemed to almost suffocate him. This is his real life story. He shares the raw emotions and the dark places he visited in his mind. His story will make you laugh and cry. It will makes you cherish your loved ones. You will be uplifted as you follow his path in overcoming grief. His inspirational story will provide comfort and hope to others struggling with grief.

 

 

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EXCERPTS:

 

I don’t sigh much anymore. But occasionally one sneaks out. It has been almost a year, as I write this, since Crystle passed. Now when I sigh it comes over me at the most unexpected times, often triggered by a memory that could be deemed insignificant to the casual observer. I was in a Walmart store one day when suddenly tears started pouring down my face. I had walked into an aisle that sparked a memory. We had wandered apart from each other that day and as I came into this very aisle in which I was now standing, I saw Crystle at the far end. I remembered such a feeling of love for her, smattered with relief and joy at finding her wandering about as if without a care. For me, these memories strike a chord deep within my soul. For a brief moment I feel like I am being pulled into the past, as if I am being moved through some beam of light that we might find in a science fiction novel. For that brief period of time I have been transported back to those early days just after Crystle left us. The memory is so fresh in that moment I feel like I can reach out and touch her. It is fleeting, thankfully, and just as quickly I am moved, seemingly at the speed of light, back to the present moment.

 

What are these sighs? I wondered to myself in those early days of grief. They began almost immediately after Crystle passed and at first, they came frequently. The Oxford dictionary defines a sigh as “to emit a long, deep, audible breath expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, or a similar feeling.”

 

These sighs became a hallmark in the early days of my grief.

 

In the first month after her passing the sighs seemed to come like waves on the shore. Relentless, they continued their march. Defying logic, each sigh crashed into the present moment before any thought of Crystle had a chance to come into my mind. They would bubble up and come out of me with little warning, as if to taunt me. They were a constant reminder that Crystle was no longer with me. But with each sigh came some mysterious relief, even if just for a few moments, and that was a welcome reprieve. Perhaps, I pondered, they were the result of some internal pressure relief system much like you would see when steam is released from a boiler. If there is no way to release pressure in that boiler, it will simply explode at some point. I learned to accept them as a coping mechanism. But every sigh reminded me of Crystle, and I knew that my relief would be short-lived. I knew that very soon the knots would return to tie up my stomach into the aching that had become my constant companion.

 

I had become an unwilling participant in a journey through grief, thrust into a dark forest that I had no choice but to find my way out of or I could be lost forever. I thought I knew what grief was like and that I understood its grip. For if you had asked me even one day before Crystle passed I would have told you that I was fully aware of grief and I was ready to take it on.

 

Oh, was I wrong!

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

I grew up in Canada’s east coast and moved to Toronto in my late teens. I was ready to sow my wild oats in the big city. But I met Crystle on a blind date and everything changed. I knew she was the love of my life. I have a business degree from the University of New Brunswick and I have worked in the information technology sector much of my working career. That hardly is credentials for an author, but life makes us all experts, even in areas we may prefer not to hold that title. When Crystle passed my life was forever changed. My grief was so overwhelming I felt I needed to share my story and if even one person is inspired to defeat grief then my writing career will be a success.

 

Website - https://glenncam.com/

 

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/626464.Glenn_Cameron

 

Buy Links:

 

Amazon.com https://amazon.com/dp/0228816297

 

Amazon.ca https://amazon.ca/dp/0228816297

 

Kindle https://amazon.com/dp/B07VT8XL2D

 

Bookshop https://bookshop.org/books/when-will-it-stop-hurting-one-man-s-journey-through-grief/9780228816294

 

Indigo https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/when-will-it-stop-hurting/9780228816317-item.html

 

Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-will-it-stop-hurting-glenn-cameron/1132729314

 

Book Depository https://www.bookdepository.com/When-will-it-stop-hurting-Glenn-Cameron/9780228816294

 

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/when-will-it-stop-hurting

 

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/951219

 

Apple iBooks https://books.apple.com/us/book/when-will-it-stop-hurting-one-mans-journey-through-grief/id1476754545

 

 

 

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