“ I feel that I was forced to take a good look at my relationship with my parents ,” Hedderman says . “ I want to know more about their story and what their life has been like . It ’ s exciting and entertaining to hear stories that I ’ ve never heard about what life was like during their childhood .”
The cover of the book features a photograph of her maternal grandparents who always shared great stories from their lives .
“ I thought this picture symbolized what I wanted to capture — the old car , the clothing styles ... the fact that they were teenagers , newlyweds and parents before I knew them as Granny and Pappaw ,” Hedderman explains . “ I learned a lot from both of them .”
“ Remembering Together ” also includes information about caregiving and making important legal or medical decisions as well as dealing with grief . While writing the book , Hedderman says she learned more about Medicare and Medicaid than she ever wanted to know .
Her second book was a natural
“ You can talk to someone for years and really not know about their life or how they grew into the person they are today .” progression from her first title , “ Preparing Your Children for Goodbye : A Guidebook for Dying Parents ,” which was published in 2011 . Hedderman wrote it after she learned that a friend with two young children had terminal cancer . “ Preparing Your Children for Goodbye ” offers advice to terminally ill parents on recording their memories and helping their children cope with death .
“ I thought a memory book would help her leave stories and advice for her sons ,” Hedderman says . “ It soon expanded to talking to children as well as caring for self and family .” In addition , everyone processes grief in his or her own way . “ In the case of siblings , one child may behave in a different manner from another ,” she notes . Hedderman has been a school counselor for 18 years and currently works at Canonsburg Middle School . She has worked with many children who have experienced loss and has facilitated bereavement and support groups for more than eight years . Hedderman says it can be difficult to deal continuously with death and grief , but she tries to focus on the hope and love that individuals leave behind for survivors .
Hedderman wants her third book to be something more lighthearted or humorous . “ I want to step away from the serious side of life ,” she says . She learned a lot about writing , editing and publishing while working on her first book . That experience made it much easier to write “ Remembering Together .” Hedderman advises aspiring writers to take on topics that are important to them , not what they think they should be writing about .
For more information , visit lorihedderman . com . ■
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