Embracing Emma (Companion to Brisé)

by Leigh Ann Lunsford

  That’s all I can do. Remember her; embrace her lessons, live to make her proud. I can admit for a while I know I wasn’t. Now, I am. I still struggle with her being gone, and even with this disease, you lose them over and over. They are still here.

  So I embrace those times I sat for hours watching the real estate channel and listening to her prepare for the test she was waiting on.

  I embrace the times she looked through me because at one point in life I was all she looked at.

  I embrace being a cult leader, a friend from out of town, or whoever I was that day.

  I also get to embrace the day before she went to sleep and never woke up; she called me by my name . . . something she hadn’t done in years.

  I’ll embrace every facet I got from her and of her because in the end I know she embraced me as much as I did her.

  I thank you for bearing with me in this book. This book to me represents love. In every form. Romantic, healing, family, forgiveness. It represents growth. It represents pain. But it also represents healing.

  All I can leave with you is this—if you encounter this disease in your life, EMBRACE IT. Find the humor when you think there is none. Answer the questions asked over and over. Fight the anger, and know it’s not their fault. It’s not your fault. Don’t fight what’s happening, it will progress regardless. Don’t make them feel less because they are just as lost as you, more so because you know what’s happening, they don’t. Most of all…love them. Love them no matter what side they are showing you. It’s not always pretty, but in the end, the reward is never ending.

  ~ Leigh Ann

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to you . . . the reader. Without your support I’d have no idea if I sucked balls at this thing called writing. I appreciate every note, message, gift – it means the world.

  Usually I have one person who inspired me, pushed me to finish a book. This one . . . I didn’t. A lot changed in my life while writing this and I knew I had to push myself, I had to make myself whole and get back to the person I was; a person I liked.

  My reader group and betas – THANK YOU!

  Playlist

  First Love Song – Luke Bryan

  My World – Blaire Hanks

  Lost in this Moment – Big & Rich

  Suit and Tie – Justin Timberlake

  Dibs – Kelsea Ballerini

  Tonight’s the Night – Blaire Hanks

  ** I listened to Blaire Hanks on repeat for most of this – check him out **