Fresh, Crisp Pages

“One day I’m going to write a book about it!” – Cassandra Banks

Fresh, Crisp Pages

“Are you a writer?” I asked Cassandra in response to her statement about wanting to write a book about her life.

“No, I’m not a writer.” She said.  “I just want to have others benefit from what I’ve gone through.

“I’m not a writer?”  I thought as the words were floating on the breeze into my ears.

If ever there was a perfect example of someone taking a crumpled, abused sheet of paper life beginning and turning it into a hardbound, gilded masterpiece storybook life it is Cassandra!

“I grew up in a six foot wide travel trailer with my alcoholic, drug addict father until I was thirteen.” She said as talked together.  “That’s when my boyfriend’s mother adopted me.”

“How did that go?”  I asked.

“It was alright.  But, she had a hard time dealing with me sometimes.  I left to go out on my own when I was eighteen.”

I looked over to her and saw intense emotion expressed on her beautiful face.  It transformed her!  Well, perhaps it was me who was being transformed by who she had become and the life she had created for herself.

I saw her childhood pain and struggle cloud across her face, trying hard to erase the woman she is now.

“My daughter is pregnant and having my first grand child!” She brightly said.

Her inner sun broke through her clouded face.  Her eyes steeled.  And, her determination was fully illuminated by her bright, infectious smile!

“I’m so excited to be a grandmother!”

Cassandra is excited about her work and her life.  When I asked her what she liked about her job she said, “It’s in my DNA!  I love solving problems for our clients that others don’t think can be solved!  I love learning new things!”

I was learning new things about the vivacious woman I knew.  Rather, the woman I thought I knew.  Over the course of our morning together she had completely rewritten my understanding of who she is.

“Are you a writer?”  I had asked her.  Yes!  Cassandra’s story is one that started on a crumpled, abused sheet of paper.  And, she has shown the entire world that everyone writes his or her own book.  The fresh, crisp pages of her book are voluminous as compared to her beginning chapters!

“Look at you now!”  I said to myself as I gazed at Cassandra’s infectious smile.  “You are a great writer!”