Each Breath Along the Journey

By Anne Dennish

“Each Breath Along The Journey” is a collection of short stories based on the personal
experiences of the writer and how she survived them.
This book is filled with the life lessons that the author has learned throughout her life,
from her divorce and being on her own to raise five children to surviving breast cancer.
Some stories will make you cry and some will make you laugh, yet you’ll know that
you’re not alone in this world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796071153

Anne Dennish

Anne Dennish is the author of “Waking Up: Lessons Learned Through My Adventures With Life and Breast Cancer” and two more published works. She lives on the West Coast of Florida.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Anne Dennish.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019918666

ISBN:           Hardcover             978-1-7960-7114-6

                     Softcover               978-1-7960-7113-9

                     eBook                    978-1-7960-7115-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

All photos found in this book are done by Anne Dennish

Author photos taken by Tim McGeough of EVN FLO Photography

Rev. date: 11/21/2019

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

791099

CONTENTS

Prologue

CHAPTER ONE

A Breath About Me

Once Upon A Time

The Life Of A Writer

More Than A Writer

Chapter Two

A Breath About You

Everything Begins With You

How Did I Get Here?

Right Where You Belong

Never Forget How Far You’ve Come

What You Seek

Remember This: It’s Not Me First, It’s Me Too!"

Your Imperfections Make You Beautiful

Value

A To-Do List For You!

Love Yourself Enough To Make The Time

Unbecoming

A Little Bit of Everything

The What and The Why

Time To Shift

Time For A Change

And Now I’ll Do What’s Best For Me

Be The Positive Change

Express Yourself

Finding Your Old Bucket List

Go Barefoot

When The Universe Opens A Door

Chapter Three

A Breath About Truth

Standing In Your Truth

Who Are You Letting Into Your Bubble?

Drawing A Line In The Sand

The Word ‘NO’ Is A Full Sentence

The Tornado Of Drama

The Messenger

Is There A Bullseye On My Forehead?

It’s Only Projection

Projection Rejection

No Response Is A Powerful Response

Who Really Cares?

There Are Times

The Art of Forgiveness

Chapter Four

A Breath About Down Days

Crazy Week

Hindsight

A Sadness In Your Heart

When A Sadness Creeps In

It’s Okay To Be Quiet

Dark Clouds

Did You Ever?

Keeping Your Mouth Shut

Chapter Five

A Breath About Being Positive

Get Excited

Do Life Happy

Look In The Mirror

What You Give Makes You Rich

Enthusiasm

Under The Tree, Just Me

The View From My Desk

Here Comes The Sun

Just Imagine

Sometimes We Need To Know

Hope

Blinded By The Light

Just Believe

Hugs

That’s What Love Does

Be That Person

On My Porch

Intuition

Chapter Six

A Breath About Life Lessons

Fear

Facing Your Fears

Deal and Feel

Run Over By A Bus

What Are You Missing?

Character and Reputation

Make Each Day Count

Some Days and Other Days

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Uncomfortable Situations

Free Will

The One Word I Despise: VICTIM

Moments In Life

When The Power Goes Out

Put It Down and Shut It Off

Busy Making A Living

Losing The Time You’ll Never Get Back

Take The Time

Nothing Can Be Everything

Here Comes Bulk Day

Respect And Social Media

Happiness Or Having A Good Time?

Don’t Just Sit There…Do Something

Chapter Seven

A Breath About Relationships

Where Is The Love?

I Want To Know What Love Is

Love and Relationships

Trust

Trust And Vulnerability

It Takes Effort

Boundaries

Communication, Compromise and Consideration

There’s No Excuse To Lie

Words Aren’t Always Good Enough

It’s Them, Not You

Be Careful What Door You Open

Listen To How They Treat You

Leaving Your Light Behind

Breaking The Love

Broken Hearts Will Heal

Chapter Eight

A Breath About Family

One Chair

A Flood Of Memories

Feels Like Family Again

Hey 17

The Last Child

My Nephew, Gavin

My Thanksgiving Table

Twas the Morning Of Christmas

New Year’s Eve

The New Year’s Revelations

Chapter Nine

A Breath About Good Things

It’s A Good Thing

On A Final Note…

With love and gratitude to the people who

have been a part of my life. Some of you

have stayed and some of you have gone, yet

each one of you has given me reason to pause

and breathe in the precious moments of my

life. Each of you hold a special place in my

heart and for that, I am forever grateful.

And for my children,

You are my heart and soul and have

given me some of the most amazing

breaths that a mother could ever take.

~Anne~

"Always be grateful for every day

that you are gifted to have on this

Earth and know that you are blessed

with each breath along the journey."

~Anne Dennish~

PROLOGUE

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I’ve come to see my life as a journey, one filled with a variety of adventures and life lessons. Each person along my travels has touched my life in one way or another. They’ve taught me a lesson, changed my perspective or challenged me to be the best version of myself.

Some have loved me and some have not. Some came into my life and stayed while others left my life as quickly as they had come into it. Some made me laugh and some made me cry, yet I believe with all my heart that each and every one of them was meant to cross my path at one point or another.

I’ve learned to look at every person, situation, and experience as a moment to pause and reflect, to observe and listen, to learn something from and be grateful.

And with each of those moments, I took a breath.

And every breath became a part of my journey.

And I will continue to learn and grow until the day I take my last breath.

~Anne~

CHAPTER ONE

A Breath About Me

ONCE UPON A TIME

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"Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted to be a writer since the moment she learned to spell and so she began writing stories at a young age.

One day the little girl told her mother that she wanted to grow up to be a writer. Her mother said that it was a nice dream to have. The little girl didn’t understand quite what that meant but she kept writing.

Time marched on and the little girl grew older, went to college and was still writing.

Then, the little girl got married and had children. She loved being a stay at home mom yet she still kept writing. She wrote little stories and poetry for her babies and made up silly songs to sing to them.

She wrote in her journal every day about her secret thoughts and feelings.

Then, the children started growing up and leaving the nest.

She thought about her once upon a time so many years ago.

She thought about all the people along her life journey that told her that wanting to be a writer was a nice dream and a fairy tale, but that real life isn’t about doing what you love all the time and that most times dreams don’t come true.

She believed them until one day when she stopped.

She stopped believing them and believing in herself.

She started to believe in fairy tales and dreams again. She started to believe in magic and she started to believe that everything and anything is possible.

It was on that day that she wrote her first book and had it published.

She knew at that moment that her once upon a time was a fairy tale that came true.

There was a happy ending and a beautiful beginning for her.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted to be a writer.

The little girl grew up and became a writer and that wasn’t the end.

It was just the beginning."

Everyone has a once upon a time that they believed in.

It’s time to remember it again.

It’s time to believe in it again.

After all, once upon a time does come true.

THE LIFE OF A WRITER

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I love being a writer. It’s crazy, enlightening, and therapeutic. It’s living a life on fire with a passion for words, observing the world, for love, life, and the people in it. It’s waking up at 3 in the morning and coming to life with a story in your head. It’s nights of waking up during a good night’s sleep with the next chapter writing itself in your mind. It’s constant thinking, wondering and figuring it all out.

It’s a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week job. The only days off are the ones in which you aren’t physically writing on the computer or paper, but you’re still writing in your head.

It’s finding a story in every conversation you have, in every person you talk to during the course of a day, and in every social event you attend.

It’s endless notebooks and journals of notes, titles, thoughts and new ideas.

It’s always remembering something so you never forget.

It’s always analyzing a situation to figure out the lesson or the message.

It’s always wondering why and how and what if?

It’s always wondering about your past that led you to your present that will take you into your future.

It’s always wondering what your dreams meant during the night and why certain thoughts enter your mind at the oddest of times during the day.

It’s always wondering about the title of the next story, book, blog, or social media post.

It’s a mind that never turns off, slows down, takes a break, or stops thinking.

It’s a mind that’s forever listening, wondering, seeing the endless possibilities in every minute of every day and in every person you speak to. It’s a mind that is constantly taking in the energy of every experience and paying attention to every life lesson that comes along.

It’s listening to different genres of music that pertain to your different moods: sad music for pity party days and upbeat music for when you’re feeling great!

It’s feeling all the emotions that life hands you and loving each and every one of them. You love the sad, the joy, the happy, and the heartache because a writer knows that every emotion is a gift, and each gift becomes the words to a beautiful story, poem or lyric.

Writers flourish under pressure and under pain. Our best writing comes from the deepest of pain. We hold onto it until we turn it into something beautiful and it’s at that moment that we can finally let it go.

It’s feeling the pain in the world and turning it into beautiful words of hope, faith and encouragement.

It’s feeling the joy in the world and turning it into a motivational story of endless possibilities.

Writer’s feel it all, accept it all, and love it all because no matter the emotion, negative or positive, sad or happy, we’re able to embrace it, live it, feel it, learn from it and write about it.

It’s then that we move on and not a moment sooner.

There are those in my life that tell me I hold onto things too long, to just let it go, but as a writer, I can’t. It’s not in my nature nor is it in my soul. It’s not how I’m wired or how I was born. It’s not something I can change and I wouldn’t want to try. It’s who I am all wrapped in this body and soul, mind and heart.

Feeling pain is something I’ve grown accustomed to. Life happens and even pain and heartache happens to a writer. How else could we write the things that we do? Pleasure is born out of pain, happiness is born out of heartache, and joy is born out of sorrow. Why wouldn’t we feel these emotions? It’s our feelings that give us focus, clarity, and most importantly, it gives us the words!

Writer’s are built on words.

We are great communicators.

We are intuitive, insightful and pay much more attention to detail than the average person. We listen, hear, process, and then we write and create.

We live everyday to its’ fullest, no matter the emotions we’re feeling. We don’t see any emotion, good or bad, as a waste of time. We see it all as life, our life, and your life. We value all of it as precious time.

As for me, when my heart speaks, I listen and then I write, and that’s the truth.

My stories begin in my heart and soul and are cultivated through my tears and heartache. They are polished by my joy and happiness and are written by the words of my truth.

If the eyes are the window to the soul, my writing is the window into me.

We writers are dreamers that many of the real world thinks is a waste of time.We can be viewed as obsessed and a little weird. They think we’re constantly pursuing a dream we’ll never catch, yet we believe differently. We believe in our dreams and in ourselves and are born out of this obsession to achieve the dreams, no matter the cost. Sure, we may come across to some as a bit weird, but that’s because we know that what we dream, what we write and what we feel is our reality. It’s the reality of a writer.

I love the life of being a writer. It’s crazy, exhausting, painful, and happy at times, but to me, it’s simply amazing.

I’m a writer, a dreamer and a poet.

I’m aware of my surroundings and all the people in it.

I’m a talker and a listener.

I’m your friend, your family and your lover.

I’m your mom and your mentor.

I’m all these things because…

I am Anne Dennish and I am a writer and for that, I’m grateful.

MORE THAN A WRITER

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I’ve been writing since the day I could hold a pencil in my hand and learned to spell. Writing is as natural to me as breathing is. As a young child my stories were nothing more than a few sentences and a crayon drawing at the bottom of the page.

Throughout high school I could be found sitting on the beach like a Bohemian hippie, writing lyrics and poetry. There were countless nights during college that I spent writing in my notebook sitting against the wall in the hallway, a hot pot of coffee next to me, while the other students were sleeping.

I began keeping a journal of my thoughts and feelings during my marriage about being a wife and mother. I wrote poetry and journal entries which would later become short stories and those short stories became published books.

I was always writing something and still am.

A few years ago, whenever someone asked me what I did, I would say I’m a mom.