Trafford Publishing: The Bridge is Love

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The Bridge is Love

by Cheron Joy Mayhall; Illustrated by Katrina Mayhall Wyman

195 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-1239; ISBN 1-4120-6328-0; US$19.50, C$22.42, EUR16.02, £11.21

Blending memoir with fantasy, Dr. Mayhall shares the depths and stages of recovery after tragic loss, intertwined with faith, hope, joy, humour and love which bridges the past and present.

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About the Book Testimonials About the Author News Release Tour Schedule Excerpts Catalogue Information

About the Book

The Bridge is Love blends parallel stories, one a true memoir of events on Earth, and a second, imaginative parable of complementary happenings in Heaven. The storyteller is a young boy, Scotty, whose life is ended suddenly in a tragic highway accident. He enters into a new life as an angel-child in Heaven from where he views his family's grief and recovery. The story spans thirteen months during which the power of love and faith allows the past and present to join together and promotes healing. The bereaved are enabled to resume positive, hopeful lives.
The factual, poignant account of the journey through intense sadness and loss emphasizes the importance of a strong network of family and friends to enhance the mourners' resilience. Extended family members, as well as treasured teachers and friends, come alive as their joys, sorrows, strengths and weaknesses are revealed. Throughout the story there is humor and hopefulness. Life becomes more cherished as challenges are confronted and overcome.
Scotty tells the tale with pure innocence, characteristic of a young child, but reflecting wisdom and understanding gained viewing the human condition through the passage of time from his heavenly vantage point. He shares his memories and observations of earthly events, at the same time recounting his experiences as a newcomer in a Heaven where love and happiness abound. His new family includes a long-deceased great-grandmother, his beloved Uncle Alex, and a new best friend, Steve. A heavenly neighbor turns out to be his mother's teacher and mentor, Uncle Bob, who introduces Scotty to the great humanitarian, Albert Schweitzer.
Time, confrontation of grief, support of family and friends, faith and hope - these are the ingredients of recovery after loss and reclamation of true joy in the living of each day.

Reader Reviews

This is a story of hope and love that will strike a chord within you. Not only is the plot creative and engaging, but the story helps you realize that life does go on after the death of a loved one and that there is a way through the pain and grief. Cheron Mayhall is clearly a talented writer with a gift for capturing the emotions and thoughts that pull us through traumatic, life-changing experiences. This book is beautifully written with narrative that reminded me a little of 'The Five People you Meet in Heaven'. Death, especially the death of a child, is a subject most people do not want to think about, but this book bravely tackles it head-on in a tale that is by turns painful, tender - and yes, even joyful. This is not a 'sad' book but more of a journey through the process of personal growth. I would encourage anyone who fears or confronts death or bereavement - which let's face it, is all of us - to read it.

—Jessica Howe, Brisbane, Australia, author of "The One Stop Wedding Kit".
The Bridge Is Love is truly a story full of hope and inspiration. Unbearable pain more often than not causes people to withdraw, become pessimistic and give up. By contrast, Mayhall's loving tribute demonstrates transformative courage - words and images that will provide comfort to many.

—Satsuki Ina, Ph.D., Psychotherapist and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer, "From A Silk Cocoon".

Professionals need to read this book and make it available as a resource for those who can profit from its reassurance and inspiration. The story will be profoundly helpful to many people as they live through their own crises and disasters.

—Dale Dawson, Retired supervisor, San Diego County Child Abuse Hotline

This is a book for all ages, a faith story of tragedy that becomes a Bridge of Love. Children will enjoy hearing and identifying with the antics of Scotty as he roams around Heaven. This is a useful book in discussing the realities of death with a child.

—Geri Eekhoff, Hospice Nurse and Counselor

Dr. Mayhall uses a novel, imaginative approach in telling the story of the tragic loss of her young son and its impact on the family. Others who have suffered similar loss may find encouragement, support and help in coming to terms with the loss of a loved one.

—Edward Henderlite, Pastor Emeritus First United Church of Christ, Salem, OR

The Bridge characters come across as real people through the author's fearless sharing of deep and raw emotions. One identifies quickly with the family's pain and trauma and clearly recognizes the giftedness of the angel-child as he narrates from his vantage point in Heaven.

—Shirley O'Conner, Widow, Owner of a Bed and Breakfast, Keen Observer of Human Nature

If you have ever had a loved one die, you know grief. The author shares her personal grief journey alongside a parable of her son's experience after death in Heaven. This book offers the bereaved a chance to reflect, share in Cheron Mayhall's grief, and affirm the promise of God's gift of eternal love.

—Rev. Myrna Phillips, Pastoral Counselor

This book, with its truthful description of grieving through unspeakable loss, will inspire many people who have lost loved ones. Some people never get past their grieving, but this book shows the healing power of faith in God and the love of family and friends. People in Hospice work could be helped by reading about this delightful view of Heaven.

—Elizabeth Holt, Nurse, Newborn Intensive Care Unit

The Bridge Is Love: A Journey Through Grief to Joy After the Death of a Child" is a winner of the 2006 Parent to Parent Adding Wisdom Award, the only award program ever to be honored by Disney.com.
An intriguing memoir with a novel twist recounts an experience of a family after a child dies. It parallels with the story of a child's life in heaven. In a time of great sadness, the book amazingly inspires faith, hope, joy, love and even humor. A true treasure."
-Jodie Lynn, syndicated parent/health expert, Parent to Parent, CEO/founder of www.AddingWisdomAward.com, and author of family/health book, "Mommy-CEO."

About the Author

After the sudden death of her young son, Dr. Mayhall made the long journey through grief to joy. Since 1977, both her personal and professional life have been influenced by the need and desire to survive and thrive beyond intense sorrow. In the process, she has successfully helped others do the same.
Following her 1960's Peace Corp experience, working with toddlers and their impoverished families in Honduras, Cheron became a counselor and medical social worker in Texas and New Mexico. At the time of her child's death she was studying for her Ph.D. in Counseling and Adult Education at Oregon State University. Her doctoral research and dissertation explores the characteristics that contribute to parental healing after the death of a child.
She was founder and President of the Salem, Oregon chapter of The Compassionate Friends, an international organization supporting bereaved parents and families. In 1983-84 she founded the Coalition in Oregon for Parent Education (COPE) where she served for thirteen years as Executive Director. This statewide organization provides education to support families raising children with disabilities. These families grieve and despair; it was COPE's mission to give them hope with the skills to survive.
Cheron served on the board of the National Parent Network on Disability. She was President of the American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) from 1999-2002. In 2005 she received ASDC's most prestigious honor, the Lee Katz Award.
Cheron and her husband live in Port Townsend, WA. They have three adult children and one grandson. Besides writing, reading and volunteer work, her interests include travel and bicycling. In retirement, she has been president of her local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. Among other volunteer endeavors, she continues working in support of church missions at home and abroad.
She is currently writing a second memoir chronicling her 2004 experience with breast cancer, highlighting the therapies and support systems that facilitated her return to wellness.
To contact the author, please write to: cheronjoy@earthlink.net.
An extensive interview with Cheron can be found at www.readerviews.com

Reviews

2007 Book Review, published in the national news magazine of The Compassionate Friends, We Need Not Walk Alone - Reviewed by Marilyn Johnston

Everyone called me Scotty, but my full name was Thomas Joseph Scott Mayhall. It was my father's family tradition to hang at least three original names on each newborn baby. I lived on Earth exactly four years, four months and nine days...
So begins chapter 1 in The Bridge Is Love. Cheron Joy Mayhall has written this heartfelt story of a family dealing with the death of a young child, using an inventive approach that sets it apart from a typical memoir. Blending fantasy with the real-time account of the summer evening in July 1977 when their son was killed in a car accident, it is the voice of their son who carries the story * the details of that night and the days that followed given through the voice of a four-year-old from heaven. Readers who already are aware of grief and well acquainted with the emotions around loss will find this book instructive. The author sheds new light on the healing process through the writing, and seems adept at recognizing that envisioning a child in a "good place," and writing through the child's viewpoint of those on earth, has tremendous benefits. I never doubted in reading this book that the writer was in full command of her subject matter * careful to give the story movement and depth instead of letting the details become bogged down in sentimentality. Given the subject matter, that is a tough combination to achieve, and I think that Mayhall has accomplished this with panache.

The book takes the reader on a journey from the night of the accident through the support systems that are available in the wake of the loss of a child. But it also skillfully guides us through the effects on surviving children, the process of subsequent birth, of an adoption, and, in the case of the Mayhalls, of adopting a child and later discovering that the child is deaf. In short, the story in all its complexities presents a wonderful example of parents' coming to terms with the loss of their child, of welcoming support, and finally of taking despair and turning it into opportunity in its broadest definition.

Besides the language, tone and the discoveries, what is most notable is that this is a story of survival, of having a faith and support structure to go on. No matter what else, it is a story of belief and gratitude that all loss, regardless of the age and circumstances, is tough * but that we are better for having had each other for whatever time we are allowed and the abilities we have been given. This is about one family, but it describes us all in some deep, empathetic way.

Besides a bibliography in the back of the book, there is also a section titled "A Path through Grief Work to Healing," which contains concise, practical steps to follow, adaptable for anyone faced with loss of any kind. I recommend that you read The Bridge Is Love, and when you do, be prepared to be touched in a profound way.

Marilyn Johnston is an Oregon poet whose work has been published widely in U.S. and international literary journals and anthologies. Her book of poems, Red Dust Rising, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Author's Tour Schedule

3/20/08 Mountain Shadows Presbyterian Church, Catalina, AZ 4-5:30 p.m.

5/9/08 Antigone Books, 411 No. 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 7 p.m.

5/13/08 "Grief, Resiliency and Mystery: Renewal After the Loss of a Loved One," Dayspring Fellowship, 1580 River Rd., Eugene, OR 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

7/28/08 "Grief, Resiliency and Mystery...", Newman Catholic Student Center, Northern Illinois Univ., 512 Normal Rd., DeKalb, IL 7 - 9:30 p.m.

Contact Cheron at cheronjoy@earthlink.net for details or to schedule an event in your area.

Excerpts