Soulful Friendships and The Release of Medeia Sharif's The Attic of Sand and Secrets

Life certainly has a way of placing people from the past back into our present and future days.  I believe when one’s existence is close to another’s for a long period of time, the souls imprint on one another, creating kindred memories that will last a lifetime.  The souls become protectors, mentors, guides, and most importantly, the best of friends or lovers for each other.

 

Besides feeling overwhelmed from juggling two brands of writing as well as working overtime at the day job, I have also been searching for several voids to be filled in my heart.  It has been aching for the finesse of friendships I was bestowed upon and blessed by from my past.  This is all part of the “taking more time out for my life” and worrying less about the woes of social media. 

Many of my followers know about the downs of my history… the murder of my father when I was 17 years old, the nonexistent relationship I have with a biological father who discovered me when I was 14 years old and then abandoned me for the second time in my life, the loss of one of my best friends to a brain aneurism five years ago, and the battles I watched my mom suffer through as she succumbed to her alcoholism every single day for over 20 years of her life.  She might have won the war when she underwent a life-saving liver transplant due to cirrhosis but many battles are still ahead.

As sad as this all once was, there have also been many blessings wrapped and given to me in the form of friendships.  And two of them walked back into my life over the weekend. 

On Friday, I had dinner with my roommate and best friend from college who I haven’t seen in almost a decade.  At one point, we had grown so close that we learned how to communicate just by reading each other's faces.  If she was about to do something funny, come up with some crazy idea for us to venture off to or pull a prank, I could already tell she was up to no good by the expression on her face. 

 

After college, she got married and had children and we kind of just lost touch afterwards.  We had been messaging each other on Facebook, expressing how much we missed one another so  we decided to make an evening out of catching up.  Her husband and the dear got along quite well as the four of us ate delicious Thai food, reminisced about the good old days while attending Rutgers, and laughed so much, I almost peed myself.   

 

Then, on Saturday, I traveled back home where I grew up for my sister’s college graduation party.  It’s only two hours away from where I live now.  I had been in contact with one of my most beloved friends from high school for the last year now on Facebook.  Back in high school, she and my sister saved me from being the subject of some of the most dreadful instances of being bullied. 

Recently, we had been messaging each other, checking in every couple of months or so.  She lost her father last month who I was very fond of.  He was the chief of police in the town I grew up.  When she confided in me about some of her feelings, I was able to relate to her because I, too, lost two fathers… one who was killed and the other who bounced right out of my little world.

I invited her to my sister’s party and was pleasantly surprised she came, alone.  I haven’t seen her in 15 years!  And when she walked through the front door, it was like a river of fresh air had just entered the room.  As sad as her life may be right now, the connection we had back in high school had lit up our surroundings and shone throughout the house through laughter, long conversations and our love for cheese and food. 

It’s almost as if I stepped back in time this weekend.  Even though the years have gone by, the connections were still there and felt as though we had all picked up right from where we left off.  I remembered how much laughter and joy these two ladies had given to me for the duration of our timeless friendships and this feeling is something I simply can’t explain.  But it felt really good.

I have made future plans with both of these young women because we have vowed to embrace the vitality and soulfulness of our friendships.

 

Now for Medeia Sharif's book blast for her intriguing new novel, The Attic of Sand and Secrets. 

 

I have really been enjoying reading some of my fellow authors' new books and this one is officially added to my TBR list.  The book blast for The Attic of Sand and Secrets will end this week so make sure you enter!!  And if you don't win, grab your copy on Amazon and get lost in Medeia's wonderful writing!

 

THE ATTIC OF SAND AND SECRETS 
by Medeia Sharif

Amazon | Featherweight | OmniLit

Vendor links will be updated on Medeia’s site.

Middle Grade Historical and Fantasy, Featherweight Press, November 2014

Lily, a learning disabled girl, attempts to unravel the mystery of her abducted mother using supernatural clues from an ancient stranger, even when it means posing a danger to herself.

Learning-disabled Lily desires to prove herself, although her mind freezes when presented with big problems - such as her mother's abduction. With a French father and Egyptian mother, Lily worries that her mother hid her ethnicity from her French in-laws. However, there's something deeper going on. Lily finds a way into an attic that's normally locked and encounters a mysterious, moonlit Egyptian night world. There she finds Khadijah, an ancient stranger who guides her to finding clues about her mother's whereabouts. Lily becomes a sleuth in both the real world and magical desert, endangering herself as she gets closer to the kidnapper.

The book takes place in 1976. Every host for this book blast is going to post one fun fact for that year. For some of you, this will bring back memories. For younger blog readers, you'll learn something new.

[insert fun fact here]

Find Medeia – Multi-published YA and MG Author

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Have you ever lost touch with a friend and then reconnected through Facebook or any other kind of social media?  Are there people from your past you wish you could see again?  Will you be reading Medeia's new book?  I know I will be!