Finding Light in a Lost Year

By Carin Fahr Shulusky

Do you remember where you were when you first heard news of the pandemic? 

Finding Light in a Lost Year will take you there. Readers can watch it unfold through the eyes of Roni Wright, a successful travel agent with a successful architect husband and two lively young children. The story is told, month-b

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fossil Creek Press
• Release date: May 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781736241738

Book preview

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Endorsements for Finding Light in a Lost Year

One of the few good things to come out of these tough times during the great pandemic of 2020-2022 is a writer willing to be honest about her own experiences and put it on the page in an act of great bravery. Ms. Shulusky has definitely succeeded in her honest and illuminating novel.

–Jonathan Miller

Multi-Award-Winning Mystery Writer

Criminal Defense Lawyer

As we all learn how to adjust our lives during this long, weary pandemic, Carin Fahr Shulusky’s newest book, Finding Light in A Lost Year, gives readers a sense of encouragement while paying homage to perceived setbacks and big accomplishments that many readers may recognize. This unforgiving pandemic has uprooted all of our lives. As the main character, Roni, narrates the transitions her family endured, readers will learn how Carin’s story mirrors so many of our own experiences, challenges, and personal discoveries. Finding Light in A Lost Year gives readers a chance to see the difficulties many of us have gone through and to embrace the surprising gifts as well!

–Jill Kraft Thompson

Award-Winning Author of Finding Jill:

How I Rebuilt My Life After Losing the Five People I Loved Most

Finding Light in A Lost Year takes us on one woman’s journey through loss, heartbreak, grief and a discovery of what really matters. A page-turning great read.

–Rebecca Now

Founder, Voices of American Herstory

A truly inspiring story about finding oneself in the face of adversity. I loved that it outlined life both before and during the pandemic, and demonstrated the importance of leaning on family and God for support and encouragement—even in the face of unspeakable tragedy.  

–Kristen Schreiber, MMS, PA-C

The proverb says, The same water that hardens the egg, softens the potato. Difficulties of life test the character of a person, a family, and our relationships. In Finding Light in A Lost Year, Carin uses the Covid pandemic to tell a universal story of struggle and survival. No one escapes hardships in life, but as Carin effectively demonstrates, hardships teach lessons that can be learned no other way. Some grow stronger, some succumb, but no one is left unchanged. Like a chick grows stronger breaking free of its shell, Carin demonstrates that families who break free of life’s challenges grow stronger, deeper, and richer relationships through perseverance and faith.

–Stephen Hower,

Host, The Hower Hour, Real Talk Radio Network

Author, Man in the Middle, Sharpening the Sword,

Contrary to Popular Belief and The Serenity Principles

A riveting and true to life look into one family’s journey through the pandemic. The glimmer of hope they held onto was able to shine through as they reworked their lives and strengthened their family bonds.

–Susan Briere,

Library Media Specialist, Dudley, MA

Finding Light in A Lost Year is a succinct and colorful story that readers can relate to because the complexities of life during a pandemic affected all of us in some similar ways. Shulusky does a beautiful job while telling an interesting fictional story weaving the good news of what is most important in life. The prayer offered at the end sums up the lessons of this tale perfectly. This will be a valuable book in future years as we try to describe to younger generations what the years of the pandemic were like here in America. More importantly, it will show that God cares deeply about each one of us and will use whatever He has (even a pandemic) to bring His beloved children closer to Him.

–Susan Bentzinger

CrossWalk Bookstore

Carin Shulusky’s latest endeavor, Finding Light in A Lost Year, is an absolute gem, a faith based mix of fact and fiction, a cautionary tale about the seemingly perfect upwardly mobile Wright family told in the first person in chronicle form through the point of view of Roni, the family’s matriarch.

Readers will laugh and cry and want to shake a character or two as this family traverses a global pandemic, career obstacles, personal tragedies and triumphs. A real stand out in this novel is the realistic perspective of just how difficult it has been to navigate the pandemic for families with children–from no school to virtual learning–and finally back in the classroom, plus the plethora of good and bad newsworthy things that happened in the states and around the world during 2020 and 2021.

With an even paced and easy to understand dialogue, and an interesting cast of characters dealing with real life conflicts, this little treasure will appeal to a range of readers, including fans of women’s fiction and inspirational fiction.

Roni Wright had it all: a globe-trotting successful executive for a travel company, married to her handsome architect husband Nathan, a young daughter, Katlin, and her young son Oliver. Then, a global pandemic struck and suddenly both children had no school to go to, Nathan’s office closed but he now has more work than ever, which leaves him floundering about where in this abruptly noisy house to set up shop. And, lastly, there’s no more travel so no more travel industry, leaving Roni, a fish out of water, in charge of everything at home but feeling incapable of handling anything at all. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when some well-kept secrets come to light, threatening the very foundation of this suddenly very imperfect family.

–Debbie Haupt, Blogger

The Reading Frenzy

Finding Light in a Lost Year

Carin Fahr Shulusky

Fossil Creek Press

Published by Fossil Creek Press, St. Louis, MO

Copyright ©2022 Carin Fahr Shulusky

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to Permissions Department, Fossil Creek Press, [e-mail].

Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Editors: Carol Corley and Karen Tucker

Cover illustrator: Janice Schoultz Mudd

Cover and Interior design: Davis Creative Publishing Partners, CreativePublishingPartners.com

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data

Names: Shulusky, Carin Fahr, author.

Title: Finding light in a lost year / Carin Fahr Shulusky.

Description: St. Louis, MO : Fossil Creek Press, [2021]

Identifiers: ISBN 9781736241721 (paperback) | ISBN 9781736241738 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: COVID-19 (Disease)--Social aspects--Fiction. | Families--Fiction. | Loss (Psychology)--Fiction. | Faith--Fiction. | LCGFT: Domestic fiction. | Christian fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Family Life / General. | FICTION / Family Life / Siblings.

Classification: LCC PS3619.H855 M9 2022 (print) | LCC PS3619.H855 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6--dc23

LCCN: 2021924517

ATTENTION CORPORATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Quantity discounts are available on bulk purchases of this book for educational, gift purposes, or as premiums for increasing magazine subscriptions or renewals. Special books or book excerpts can also be created to fit specific needs. For information, please contact Fossil Creek Press, [e-mail].

Bible verses in this book are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

I’d like to dedicate this book to the remarkably brave health care warriors who fought for us all on the front lines of the 2020 pandemic. Whether in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, or ambulances, they sacrificed so much to keep us safe, heal the sick, and comfort those who couldn’t be saved. Many gave the ultimate sacrifice. They are the heroes of the pandemic.

Thank you.

Acknowledgments

I’d first like to acknowledge my two wonderful editors. My dear friend Carol Corley is my sounding board for everything I think and write. She is my greatest cheerleader and best critic. She makes everything I write better. Second is my marvelous editor Karen Tucker. She carefully took a raw manuscript and made it sparkle. She made the process more fun than it should be.

I’d like to also thank my dear family. My husband Richard is the man who truly knows the best recording of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the origins of the Blues, and the history of the Peloponnesian War. My brilliant daughter Christine Blonn, her amazing husband Phil, their delightfully effervescent daughter Sophie, and my always humorous son Andy are the brightest lights of my life. They giving my life meaning and purpose

Table of Contents

Prologue

November 2019 – A Perfect World

December 2019 – Glamorous Holiday

January 2020 – Ringing in the Perfect Year

February 2020 – Too Many Flowers, Not Enough Heart

March 2020 – Life Locked Down

April 2020 – When It Rains, It Pours

May 2020 – No Job, No May Flowers

June 2020 – Summer Without Fun

July 2020 – Learning to Celebrate Safely

August 2020 – A Dark Cloud Building

September 2020 – Darkness Covered the Earth

October 2020 – Indian Summer

November 2020 – The Storm Rages On

December 2020 – Some Hope, Some Pain, Some Holiday

January 2021 – Terror in the Capitol

February 2021 – Baby, It’s Cold

Epilogue

About the Author

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path.

Psalm119:105 (NIV)

When Jesus spoke again to the people he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John 8:12 (NIV)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)

Prologue

Do you remember where you were on Thanksgiving of 2019? Do you remember how you celebrated that happy year? And with whom? My guess is a rather large group of family and friends from parts far and wide. Do you remember how you were feeling about the future? I do. I remember it all. I felt on top of the world. It was a time of plenty. Plenty of everything. There was never a gap on any store shelf. Anything and everything you wanted was right at your fingertips. If you wanted to go somewhere, you hopped on a plane and went. No restrictions. Life was rich, full, and glorious, or so I thought. I truly had it all. My name is Veronica (I prefer Roni) Krieger Wright. I’ve been married for twelve years to my handsome, successful architect husband, Nathan. (I also sort of have a boyfriend, but that’s another story). We have two perfect, brilliant, happy children (one boy and one girl, of course)—Oliver and Katlin. My husband and I had sound, successful careers, and our world couldn’t have been more perfect, or so I thought. I couldn’t have been more wrong. How could we know that a worldwide pandemic was lurking just around the corner, threatening to take it all away? This is the story of that pandemic and how it exposed the vast imperfections in my perfect world, how we nearly lost everything that mattered, and how we not only survived My Lost Year, but also how we found what truly mattered in the wake of the worst pandemic in a hundred years.

November 2019 – A Perfect World

Sometimes the trip from Winnetka, Illinois, to St. Louis felt like it took days. It usually took just under six hours, depending on the weather and how many times the kids needed to stop. This time, it seemed like an eternity.

Nathan and I and our two children were on our way home from celebrating Thanksgiving with my in-laws. We made the trek to Winnetka about three times a year. This year, Nathan’s family got Thanksgiving. Next year, they’ll get Christmas. I was already dreading that. We left St. Louis last Wednesday. Now, after completing all the family obligations, we were headed home.

Our Thanksgiving was great, if you don’t count the fact that my five-year-old son Oliver broke an antique vase at my in-laws or that my seven-year-old daughter Katlin threw up in our Cadillac Escalade one hour into the trip. Overall, as trips to my snobby in-laws go, it was successful. We had an elegant Thanksgiving dinner at their club. My children made only minor distractions. I had bribed them for good behavior with the promise of a new toy for the trip home. It was now occupying them in the back seat. Of course, they each had their own iPad with earphones too, which should have helped reduce the squabbling. Should have. With two more hours to go of the drive, I resorted to threats.

I will take away those iPads and you won’t have any screen time for a whole week if you don’t stop arguing right now, I screamed, for effect. I could control my temper if I really wanted to. Please, God, make them be good. I couldn’t possibly handle a whole week without the distraction of iPads.

Fortunately, quiet ensued, and I didn’t have to find out how far my resolve would go. With that settled, I was back to my own iPad, setting up appointments with clients for the coming week. I had barely looked at my phone over the holiday. I did have that conference call with Boeing on Wednesday as we drove down. And I spent a couple of hours Friday working on a holiday tour. I was the manager of the St. Louis office of Jonas Travel and Events, a worldwide business and incentive travel agency. Five years ago, after Oliver was born, I had convinced them to open an office in St. Louis. At the time, Nathan was being transferred to St. Louis with his firm. We both thought we could prosper in St. Louis and raise our family there. My parents live in nearby Washington, Missouri, and I knew I could count on them to help out with the kids. It had worked pretty well so far. I had no idea what the next year, 2020, would hold for us. At this moment, we seemed to be on top of the world, if only I could get these kids to stop bickering.

Alright, hand me those iPads right now, I said much more firmly than I meant.

OK, Mom. We’ll stop, Katlin and Oliver replied in unison. Lucky for me. I really had no plan to take those electronic babysitters away.

I suppose we should stop for dinner, Nathan said, reminding me that there was another parent in the car.

How about Springfield? I replied. We’ll need a pretty quick meal. We have to get home and get these two in bed. Tomorrow is school for them and work for us.

I’m pretty exhausted, Nathan said. But we’ll find a chain restaurant that won’t take long. So that’s what we did.

Bright and early the next day, our crazy morning rush began again. There was something strangely comforting and familiar about our routine. Everyone was up at 6. I faithfully went to the gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before work. I dropped the kids off at school for the Early Bird program at 7 a.m. before heading to the gym for my workout. Nathan liked to be in his office early, so he would go straight to work. We took turns dropping off the kids at 8 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Nathan worked out after work on some days. I wasn’t sure what he did the other days. Our nanny, Anna, picked up the kids after school. She was a lifesaver. I had met her on one of my trips to Germany. She was taking classes at Washington University while working for us. It was a perfect arrangement. She was teaching the kids German too.

As I said, our life was pretty perfect. If either or both of us had to work late, we knew Anna would be there. I always had frozen meals on hand, and Anna had a credit card to get pizza or whatever delivered. Everything ran like clockwork in our perfect world.

My day began with a tough workout with Grace, my personal trainer and friend. She’s been training me ever since we moved to St. Louis. She not only helped me stay in shape, but she was somewhat of a mother confessor too. She knew all my darkest secrets, which I must admit numbered too many. It always cheered me to see her.

So, how was the big Thanksgiving with your in-laws? Grace asked as she programmed the treadmill to take me up hills a little faster than I like.

It all went smoothly, I answered, breathing hard. Oliver did break one of my mother-in-law’s prize vases, but I don’t count that.

Still not a fan of Nathan’s mother, then? she asked.

Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever…be…a…fan, I gasped as the treadmill pushed me to my limits. "She’s such a society matron. Totally