|
Editors Jana High and Marilyn Sprague-Smith launched the idea to write a book of encouragement, challenge and triumph for women.
Kuhn, who lives on Ben Cook Road in Ashe Settlement community, knew Sprague-Smith from Toastmasters when the editor lived here several years ago.
"Marilyn called me up and invited me to participate," said Kuhn. "We had so much fun together in Toastmasters, I just knew this would be a fun project."
It was.
Working via fax and e-mail with the other women writers, Kuhn discovered, "We all have a royal spirit, no matter who we are, where we come from, or what life we've chosen... we are princesses."
Kuhn said women can especially identify with this book of true personal accounts.
"There's no fiction between these pages," said this licensed massage bodywork therapist.
In her chapter on "Unhooking the Past," Kuhn describes an unusual but effective ceremony that helped her "rediscover myself, to put back the pieces I had given away and those that had been stolen from me."
With hands stained from digging in the red clay earth, Kuhn tells how she literally "buried" a bad relationship.
"I placed his image in the hole at the bottom. I struck the match - then torched him. It didn't take long until the ashes appeared, his image cremated. I took the soil that was piled on the side and covered the remains, never to be felt, seen, heard, touched or tasted again. I was free... free of a relationship that did not support my royal spirit."
In regaining her self-esteem, Kuhn discovered that she didn't need anyone in her life to be complete, but she could choose someone. She decided to choose an interdependent, working together relationship.
Next follows her story of how she met her "dream man" and current husband, Deiter.
"I would never have been ready for my 'dream man' or able to accept the unconditional love he offers if I had not unhooked the past," said Kuhn.
In addition to City Lights, Kuhn's book is available at Annie's Bakery on Sylva's Main Street as part of a "Pampered Princess" basket including chocolates, biscotti and teas. For each book she sells, Kuhn will donate $2 to the Women's Center at Western Carolina University.
|
Kuhn