Dear Tommy
by
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I got the call at 11:15 PM. I had already started to fall asleep, so I was groggy at first. But as soon as I got on the phone, I knew something was wrong. I just didn't know how wrong. Until she started talking. My mom sounded like a robot, an automaton, definitely not like herself. In a monotone, she told me what was going on. "Christie, there's been an accident at the plant where Tommy works." My heart sped up. "Tommy was on a ladder and a vat exploded over his head." My stomach lurched ... An image appeared in my mind. We would have to go visit him in the hospital. His handsome good looks were probably destroyed. It would be a long, grueling rehabilitation. But we were a strong family, we love each other, we would get through this together. Somehow. ... Then she said the three words that would reverberate in my head for the rest of my life. "Christie, Tommy's dead." I screamed.
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About the Book
Note: This book won an Honorable Mention prize in the Great Midwest Book Festival in 2013. Tommy O'Neil had just celebrated his 22nd birthday when a tragic work-related accident took his life and turned his family's world upside-down. His older sister Christie turned to her journal for solace and immediately penned her first of many poems to him in one of his eulogies. Over the days, weeks, months and years that followed his death, she kept her special "Dear Tommy" book close to her as a way to maintain her relationship with her younger brother, even though he would never be able to write back.
After September 11, 2001, when global events irrevocably changed so many thousands of lives, Christie made the decision to publish her book. In empathy for the survivors left to deal with the sudden deaths of so many loved ones, she wanted to share with the world how she had coped on a day-to-day basis with the hole left in her life when her brother was suddenly taken away.
About the Author
Christie O'Neil Harrison is an author, poet and singer/songwriter who lives in Pawtucket, RI. She is the owner of Sunny Productions, a Professional Documentation Services company. She has more than a decade of experience in the publishing, editing and writing industries. She volunteers in the Providence School System and sings in her church choir.
She enjoys running, sailing, acting and singing. You can often find her in a local karaoke bar, where she sings favorites from the '70s through today. She is working on her next two books, one another memoir, and one a collection of her poetry. Her poetry book, Collecting Seashells by the Sea Shore will be published in late 2013 by Xlibris.com