Both Sides Now: A True Story of Love, Loss and Bold Living - Softcover

Sharp, Nancy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0983937869 ISBN 13: 9780983937869

Publisher: Books & Books Press, 2014

Synopsis

The past is simply part of our story; just not the whole story...On the very day that Nancy Sharp delivered premature twins, she learned that her husband's brain cancer returned after eighteen months in remission.  Less than three years later, at the age of 37, she became a widow. But while many in that situation would crumble, Nancy had an innate ability to hold life and death in the same moment. She learned to "see beyond the frame's edge."  In BOTH SIDES NOW: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Bold Living, Nancy shares her unforgettable journey - one that offers enlightened understanding for living life to the fullest.  Her story is a gift to those looking to lift themselves from the embers of loss and adversity through bold living.

Seeking the solace of the Rocky Mountains and a fresh start, Nancy packs up her five year-old twins and leaves Manhattan for Denver, never imagining that she would find love in the pages of a magazine.  But after reading an article on eligible bachelors, Nancy sends an email to Steve Saunders, a popular Denver television anchor turned political candidate as well as a widower who'd lost his wife to cancer, and was raising two sons a decade older than Nancy's twins. Today they have been married for six years.
 BOTH SIDES NOW is the recipient of seven literary honors: First Book Finalist for Books For A Better Life; USA BEST BOOK Finalist; National Indie Excellence Award; Readers' Favorite International Book Award; Living Now Book Award; American Book Fest International Book Award; and a CIPA EVVY. Conversations Book Club with Cyrus Webb also named BOTH SIDES NOW as a top 50 nonfiction read of 2014. 
In BOTH SIDES NOW, Nancy explores:
 
·       What it was like for her to learn her husband's cancer had returned on the same day she delivered premature twins
·       Coping with his long illness and the unexpected beauty surrounding his death
·       What gave her the courage to move from NYC to Denver with young twins to start a new life
·       How she literally plucked her new husband, Steve, from the pages of a magazine
·       What it really means to hold the past, present, and future at the same time
·       How we comes to own our stories without letting them define us·       A compelling snapshot of BOLD Living 

 

About this title

From the Author:

 
Q:                  Can you describe was it was like to learn that your husband Brett's cancer had returned, after 18 months in remission, on the very day you gave birth to premature twins?
 
A:                  It was surreal: like having summited a mountain only to be pushed off the cliff. 
 
Q:                  You conceived of the twins through in-vitro fertilization with sperm Brett had banked before he started chemotherapy. When you made the decision to conceive, did any part of you acknowledge that you might be raising these children on your own?
 
A:                  Yes and no. We wanted so badly to have a family, which for us, represented the future. It was against this backdrop that I said yes to having children.
 
Q:                  Why--and what gave you the courage--to move away from your support system in NYC to Denver with 5 year-old twins?
 
A:                  I was turning forty, and nearly my entire thirties were spent caregiving and mourning. "If not now when?"  This is what propelled me forward. I chose Denver because my college roommate and her family lived here, and every time Brett and I visited them (in better years), we felt an innate sense of belonging. After the tempest in NYC, I found solace in looking to the mountains.
 
Q:                  After your move, you read about your current husband Steve Saunders--a widowed news anchor with two children--in an article about Denver's most eligible bachelors.  The first time you sent him an email, he did not respond. Why did you email him again?
 
A:                  I suppose that I felt like being tenacious. I had just recast my life in another part of the country! I thought Steve might not have received the first e-mail, or that he never saw my note. I had nothing to lose so I simply resent the note.
 
Q:                  While your specific story is about moving on from the death of your husband, your book is inspirational and applicable to anyone who wants to make life changes.  Why?
 
A:                  Life is full of obstacles, most of which we can neither anticipate nor control. Processing such experiences are one thing, but staying in stasis is another. Human beings have the ability to redefine negative life events. Once we learn to see beyond that which limits us, we are capable of moving our lives in a bolder direction. 
 
Q:                  You say B.O.L.D. Living™--an acronym for how you approach life--stands for Beauty, Opportunity, Liveliness, and Daring.  What does it mean in a nutshell?
 
A:                  Bold Living requires the courage to move beyond our fears and past experiences. To dream and act and live and seize every precious moment, hard or beautiful as they might be.
 
Q:                  Breaking the acronym apart, you talk about how B--Beauty--has many faces. And that surprisingly there was incredible beauty surrounding Brett's death.  How so?
 
A:                   Never would I have planned that a crowd of seventeen people, a good many of them uninvited, would fill his hospice room on the day he died.  Like a chorus of angels they huddled together and sang, "let go, let go, let go," until their voices drowned out the last of his labored breath. Grace and heat and beauty and life and death all at once.
 
Q:                  O stands for Opportunity. "You must create opportunities for yourself. Don't wait for life to happen. Make life happen!" What are some ways people can do that?  
 
A:                  We can take thirty minutes to dream. Are we being held back in some way by not pursuing this dream, simple or far-fetched as it might be?  Before I settled on Denver, I thought about moving to Italy. While a transcontinental move with young twins would have been inconceivable, it sure was yummy to picture myself strolling the piazzas of Rome with my children. Thirty minutes is a manageable period. What simple steps might we take within this time frame to expand our vision?
 
Q:                  L is for Liveliness, as in "Be alive for today. Make the past a vivid part of your present." What does that mean?
 
A:                  Everything that happens to us in life is just part of the fabric of today. It's not possible to rewrite the past, and yet we can find gentle acceptance in recognizing that the past is merely a part of today's story, but not the whole story.
 
Q:                  You write that D stands for Daring. What if someone is scared to take a risk?  What is the first step?
 
A:                  We've all made brave decisions over the course of our lives, even if we don't think of them in such terms. Find strength from those decisions and actions and know that we are gifted with the ability to step forward at any moment. Think bold. Be bold. Live bold.
 
 

From the Back Cover:

Both Sides Now is both an intimate portrait of loss and a fierce affirmation of life, says Mitchell Kaplan, publisher of Books & Books Press, founder and chair of the Miami Book Fair International, and past president of the American Booksellers Association (ABA). Nancy s elegant prose and the way she paints her own story in such universal language clearly resonates with readers, and I m personally very proud to stand behind this important book. The past is simply part of our story; just not the whole story On the very day that Nancy Sharp delivered premature twins, she learned that her husband s brain cancer returned after eighteen months in remission. Less than three years later, at the age of 37, she became a widow. But while many in that situation would crumble, Nancy had an innate ability to hold life and death in the same moment. She learned to see beyond the frame s edge. Nancy shares her unforgettable journey one that offers enlightened understanding for living life to the fullest. Her story is a gift to those looking to lift themselves from the embers of loss and adversity through bold living. Both Sides Now/2 Seeking the solace of the Rocky Mountains and a fresh start, Nancy packs up her five year-old twins and leaves Manhattan for Denver, never imagining that she would find love in the pages of a magazine. But after reading an article on eligible bachelors, Nancy sends an email to Steve Saunders, a popular Denver television anchor turned political candidate as well as a widower who d lost his wife to cancer, and was raising two sons a decade older than Nancy s twins. Today they have been married for six years."

About this edition

• Publisher: Books & Books Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0983937869
• ISBN 13: 9780983937869
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306