The Family Matriarch
Honestly, I am the last person on the face of the earth qualified to write a book for many reasons. The process has been cumbersome, nerve-wracking, and even nauseating at times. And at the same time, my love for my children continued to push me forward.
I don’t claim myself as an expert in parenting, family leadership, or religion. I am a mother. I have experienced a great deal of ups and downs in this rollercoaster ride of life. This book is just a collection of my thoughts on family leadership for my daughter, children, and future heirs.
This book contains a framework of things I want my children to know and remind them of when I am no longer here in person.
I am a breast cancer survivor, and I have been battling a disabling auto-immune disorder for years. Apparently, I won the short straw when it comes to our family genes. The various life-threatening experiences I’ve gone through made me realize that life is forever unexpected. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. What if I am not here to help my children with their own children someday? What would I want them to know?
This made me start journaling. The journaling progressed into an outline. And the outline literally blew up with a big bang! I couldn’t contain all of the love and thoughts that were pouring out of my heart. I contacted a company that published books and verbally threw up on the representative. As I shared my ideas and fears, I was apologetic because I was going through a million emotions. Rambling, laughing and crying all at once. The representative laughed and assured me that it was fine and they could help me. And so, this book, The Family Matriarch, my baby, was officially conceived.
The topics in this book can easily fill a multitude of books — an entire library. I hope to keep the topic focused on an overview and a touch on the topics that warrant further exploration and writing for this particular book. With God’s will, we will explore some of these topics in greater detail in the future.
For this book, I hope to focus on a couple of main themes related to the role of a family matriarch:
- Start with the belief that every facet of your life matters and you are greatly loved.
- Trust that you can be a repairer of the breach within your family circle.
- When in doubt, remember that love wins in the end.
I hope this book functions as a workbook for my children and other people out there. I hope the readers will participate in the questions and answers as a starting place for dialogue. Write in this book. Bring it to life. Make it your own.
Above all, I want my children, all of my future heirs, and any other readers to know how much you matter to me. My physical presence in this world does not really matter. What matters the most is my spiritual presence which I leave behind in this world. – Carol Denise
