Recently on Facebook, my author friend Diana Brandmeyer (A Mind of Her Own), recommended a book by an author friend of hers. The book was on sale for $1.99 and I was in need of a new read, so I downloaded it. The name of the book was “Condemn Me Not” by Dianne Venetta. It was a great read. Very well written and fast paced reading. Venetta speaks with authority on love. All kinds of love, and she does it so eloquently.
“Condemn Me Not” was about mother daughter love. I kept and highlighted this passage:
” Simone pulled her daughter into a hug and squeezed. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mom.”
Three little words, three hugely important words. Had she said them enough? Did Mariah know how much she was loved? Did she understand the depth and breadth of her mother’s feelings, the sheer ferocity with which she cared – about her well-being, her future, her….everything? Simone squeezed harder, her daughter responding in kind. Head to head, chest to chest, she and Mariah were now on the same team. They were crossing a bridge, moving to the next stage, the next platform, and for that they needed a new mix of trust and love, guidance and friendship.
Simone indulged in the embrace. They were too few, too infrequent and she was intent on savoring every one. There was no way Mariah could understand the full extent of a mother’s love until she became one herself. Everything changed when you had a baby. Your body, your mind, but mostly your heart. Life was never the same after you had a child. It was fuller, richer, because one special human being had entered your world.”
~ Dianne Venetta – “Condemn Me Not
The story of how this kind of love came to be was one I enjoyed immensely. After I finished it, I immediately went in search of another book by Venetta. I chose “Jennifer’s Garden”. Venetta explains parent/child and man/woman love so beautifully, a tear actually “poked at the corner of my eye”. Listen to the poetry in this prose:
“A tear pokes at the corner of her eye. It would be the most important day in her adult life and they would be absent. Absent physically, but not emotionally. She had learned over the last months that love crossed lifetimes. It didn’t accept the boundary of the physical plane, the limits of physical thought. Jennifer understood now. Love endured. It persisted. Each and every day she felt her mother’s love as strong as when she was alive. And better yet, she had opened the connection to her father.
Sam squeezed Jennifer to her side. “I’m proud of you. You set your sights in something and went for it.”
“That’s nothing new,” she replied.
Sam chucked. “True. But tangible goals like diplomas and jobs are easy. With those, you know if you begin with a-b-c, you’ll eventually reach x-y-z.
Jennifer lifted her head and turned to Sam, tugging her focus to the present. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Sam grinned. “I’m talking about love.”
Jennifer arched her brow.
“It’s unpredictable. It’s unexplainable. You can run the entire alphabet of love, memorize it backward and forward and still end up with nothing. Yet you still tried.”
~Dianne Venetta, “Jennifer’s Garden”
I never heard anyone give a definition of love quite like that one before. The alphabet of love. Both the concept and the way the words played off of my brain endeared me to this author. She is very sensitive to feelings between people and has the uncanny ability to conceptualize and explain the unexplainable. If you have ever loved deeply, you will appreciate Dianne Venetta’s work.
And so, as another day goes by, I hope I helped you stock your kindle, and…I have written.
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