I’ve completed editing and am ready to take the next step, but I’m still not sure what the next step is.  I’ve decided to share the prologue with you and would appreciate feedback.

PROLOGUE – ” UNTIL OUR DYING DAY, BY KATHY BOECHER©

The days of our youth are so tender. We long to be nurtured and cared for. Love needs to be taught right from the start in the gentle embrace of a mother’s arms or the strength of a father’s touch. Through example we learn how to love, but we also learn to hate.

The first impression made on us comes from those within our family. When we’re old enough, we venture outside our comfort zone and stumble almost helplessly into the complexity of living. Through our experiences we begin to develop our own personality. We become who we will be for the rest of our existence in those few early years.

Good or bad, we carry hidden secrets about what goes on behind closed doors. If told, they could devastate or destroy us. If known, they might not be believed. We can work through those things or allow them to consume us.

When lives collide and intertwine, they can rely on each other for comfort, encouragement and friendship. They can also reap the best character traits of those with whom they join. In the process of growing a friendship, there will be disagreements, conflicts and emotional breakdowns. Add to that the hormones of growing up and you have a prescription for a rich and full existence, with no lack of excitement.

Three women, all from very different backgrounds, are at the core of this tale. They meet at the time of life when a young girl blossoms into a woman. Their friendship continues throughout the days of their lives. Together they endure hardships, pain, suffering, loss, love, joy and all the other situations that meld people into a unit fit for battle. That is precisely what happens with these women. They are being prepared for a war of sorts which they will wage on this planet. When death comes, the war ends and peace transcends all understanding throughout eternity.

They come together in the small township of Haley’s Corners, a charming resort hamlet just a couple hundred miles from Chicago. The time is the 1930s – a time of rebuilding, restoration and rejuvenation. It was the perfect time and place for this friendship to be forged.

Each girl has a story to share which blends their personalities into a concoction of beauty. Friendship is like that. It’s a mixture of emotions, past adventures, the construction of an existence of breathing through each other, all united until our dying day.