08/13/2026
Sometimes a story waits until we are ready to tell it. โค๏ธ
This week, I received the news that ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ด: ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ has been named a 2026 ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ณ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ก & ๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ. ๐ฅ
I am so incredibly honoured.
And as I sit with this recognition, my mind keeps going back to where this story began.
A paper.
A speech.
And a quarter of a century laterโฆ a book.
At the heart of it all are my children and my beautiful angel, whose love and loss are woven into this story.
My first opportunity to share this deeply personal story publicly came through Rina Lee Rovinelli & Dan Shaikh. That speech also received a Bronze Medal, but more importantly, it gave me the courage to step forward and share something I had carried quietly for many years.
Eventually, that story became ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ด, what I now call my inspirational teaching memoir.
A book born from loss, but written to explore what can come after loss: hope, meaning, resilience, and the possibility of living fully while carrying what we have loved and lost.
To have it recognized in the Grief, Death & Dying category is deeply meaningful to me.
I am so grateful to the people who helped this story find its way into the world.
Speaker Slam for giving me that first platform and the courage to tell the story.
The Awakened School | Inner Peace & Outer Purpose and especially Datta Groover and Rachael-Jayne Groover, for taking me on this journey and believing in the story that was waiting to be told.
Deep Pacific Press, for helping bring the book into the world.
And to my family, my beta readers, friends and colleagues who read early drafts, shared your wisdom, encouraged me, challenged me and believed in this story before it ever had a cover, thank you. You are part of this journey too.
One of those beta readers, my dear friend Carla Marrouche happened to be visiting from Lebanon this week. Her beautiful testimonial is on the back cover of my book. To sit together again during this particular week was such an incredibly beautiful full-circle moment. โค๏ธ
I feel humbled. Grateful. And I'm taking a moment to let this one sink in.
Because sometimes the stories we carry for years become the stories that help someone else feel a little less alone.
A paper. A speech. A book. And now, a message reaching farther than I ever imagined. โค๏ธ
Grateful beyond words....๐โค๏ธ๐ผ
