Her bright light

I got a chance to read a book during the holidays. It was a rare treat indeed because now I hardly find time to read a book at one go. Normally it used to take me just a couple of days to finish a book and at times - if it is particularly interesting - it would only take a matter of hours.

Then reading a book became a rare luxury. I who had hardly spent a day without reading a page could not find time or the peace of mind to finish a sentence.

Words which were once my friends and did not hesitate to envelop me in their comfort stood apart like bold strangers barring my way.

It took some time to rekindle the familiarity but finally I managed to scramble about and find a bedding that would accept me for the moment. It was a far cry from the age old comfort zone that I was used to all my life but it was enough to get absorbed by the pages.

This is a story about loving and losing. It is the tale of a successful writer who faced her son's devastating illness with courage. Many who had read her volumes (she had penned many) would never have guessed that each book was written late in the night after hours of battling with a murderous ailment on behalf of one close to her heart and hours of endless worries, wondering what will be in store in the nest couple of minutes as her son struggled, trying to accomplish his daily chores.

"This is the story of an extraordinary boy with a brilliant mind, a heart of gold and a tortured soul..." is how Danielle Steel describes her son Nick Traina in her carefully written anthology of her son.

She writes: "The greatest lessons I learned were of courage, and love, energy, ingenuity and persistence.

We never gave up, never turned away, never turned on him, never let him go, until he let us go because he couldn't fight the fight any longer... the real victory for him, and for us, was that we gave him a quality of life he might otherwise never have had. He was able to pursue a career he loved, in music.

He saw victories that few people do, at twice his age, or who live a great deal longer... The disease did not stop him from being who he was, or us from loving him as he was.

I think it was one of the best gifts we gave him. Acceptance of who he was and unconditional love..."

She battles, sights, counts the small blessings, scatters the tragedy with tears but most of all it is her strength through the times when she was helpless to aid the one she loves that strikes us most.

She who had gone through a test that would have broken many others has the will to pick up the pen and paper to recapture the memories to write so that it might be of use to other manic-depressives in even the tiniest of ways.

Thank you, Danielle, for sharing these words with us. Thank you for giving less the fortunate a chance to look up at you.

- Shehara [email protected]