From My Heart to Yours: BriaLan Douglass

From My Heart to Yours: BriaLan Douglass

Opening your hearts to the world after enduring domestic abuse, the challenges of autism but never giving up on his faith in God and his family you will want to share the stories, poems and drawings of BriaLan Douglass from his heart to yours and mine!

Inspiration, motivation, perceptiveness and the drive to never give up is rare these days in young people. At 17 years of age this autistic young man’s stories, poems and thoughts will bring joy, tears and warmth into the hearts of everyone that reads From My Heart To Yours. Can we ever stop believing in ourselves? Should we let others bring us down or will we rise to the top and overcome every obstacle in our paths? The circle of life might be smooth and without any cracks or openings but not every circle remains in tack and sometimes the cracks, the chinks and the openings that change our course and take us on different paths until we find our way is what makes us stronger.
He begins by introducing himself and letting everyone know that hatred, discord, anger and gossip are not part of his live. Forgiveness is something that at times we all struggle with yet with the help and understanding of his mother and family he learned to forgive. You can turn something bad into something good he learned and he realized that being diagnosed with autism might hold him back but after you read his stories, poems and see his drawings you will realize that his writing is inspired by real life experiences that others might have and he has much more to say to fulfill God’s purpose for him before he leaves this earth.

Mother-daughter relationships are special. The bond I had with my mom was tight and the values she taught me are still with me today as we meet Mindy and Michelle. Michelle is a great mother but she abuses her body by overeating and not watching her weight. Eating the wrong foods and not exercising placed her in jeopardy for what she would experience. Mindy came home from school one day and saw that her mother could not move and she called her grandmother to come. Michelle could not move her legs and the diagnosis was heart failure due to a condition that damages the heart muscle and the coronary arteries. The author explains more about how the heart pumps blood and how coronary artery disease is caused by plague buildup in the wall of the arteries that supplies blood to the heart. The doctor told her mother that she had to lose weight. This was the first warning and wake up call but two years later there would be another that would hopefully encourage Michelle to stop eating wrong and do something about her weight. Mindy had a nightmare and thought that her mother had passed. Read what she learns at the end of the story and read what we hope others will take from this heartfelt story about a mother’s love for her daughter and a daughter’s hope for their future together.

The second story is titled The Beginning Of A New…… Jill Muggy is 34 years old and she is narrator of the story as she flashes back to her childhood, and how her mother took care of her, paid the bills while her father was in the service. Her mother was a single mom and her biological father was abusive. But, love comes when you do not expect it and she met another man who would become part of their lives. Living with her grandparents who adored having them there and her mother went to school and became an teacher she Jill reflects on her childhood and the choices that changed her life. Trapped within the confines of her own darkness and wish she could take some choices back just where is Jill now?

Flashback to where it all fell apart and what happens when her real father enters their lives, her stepfather wants him stopped before things get out of hand and the author enlightens us to what happened to Jim and how he dealt with PTSD and the final outcome you will have to decide for yourself. When anger takes over and violence wins who survives? Who does not? Told in the first person as Jill is our narrator you will have to learn her final destination when you read the last chapter of this story: The Arrival of Jill.

BriaLan describes in the next story which is illustrated how Jerry did not want to leave his mother’s side. Attached to her he felt safe and secure and as he grew up he hid his age, he pretended to remain young and never wanted to grow up. All too often children create other personalities for themselves whether super heroes, even pretending to be a businessman and sometimes even being Jerry. Check out the illustrations and see the many sides of Jerry before he attends a party that would change it all for him. Attending a pool party he decided to wear a costume but he lure of the water and the pool captivated him and he could not resist jumping in. What happens as a result and what wonderful things happened you have to read the story for yourself as Jerry learns that life is filled with changes, branching out but a mother’s love is forever. Just how! Like any mystery find out for yourself and then read the same story titled My Third Grade Writing and Drawings to really get to know him better.

The final section consists of Poems the first The Human Heart which explains in detail how the heart gives us lives and he questions why people often show disregard for lives and how he thanks our Creator for giving him life. The second A Mother and Her Child is quite compelling as the author relates how a mother can pray for many thing like health for her child. He relates how he learned from his mother to release his anxiety and worries and let it all go. The voice heard is that of a mother and how she hopes to help her child see life and the good things it has in store. The pictures bring it all to life as we get to know the author and his mother. Transferring his emotions into words through his writing helped him to overcome his fears, pain and show others that life might have throw many obstacles and roadblocks in your path but if you try hard, look deep inside yourself you too can put your thoughts on paper, tell how you feel with hope and joy as the author states in the title of this heartfelt, inspirational and outstanding book: FROM MY HEART TO YOURS AND BRIALAN: FROM FRAN’S HEART TO BRIALAN thank you for sharing your book with me and so many others.
Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ Magazine