Description
Book SynopsisThere are 53 million family caregivers in the United Sates, and many feel isolated and overwhelmed. In Watching for Dragonflies, Suzanne reaches out to other caregivers, inviting them to explore the many avenues of growth available to those walking the path of caregiving.
Suzanne’s story begins with a phone call from her husband, Michael, telling her he has collapsed on the job. They soon learn he has multiple sclerosis. Despite the negative patterns threatening their marriage, she is determined to handle the caregiving tasks suddenly thrust upon her. Through love, psychological insights, and spiritual inquiry, she cultivates her abilities—and gains the courage to confront a medical system that often saves her husband but at other times threatens his life. As time progresses, Michael undergoes many hospitalizations; he also makes miraculous recoveries that allow adventure back into their lives, including a numinous experience with dragonflies. When Suzanne faces her own medical crisis, their world is shaken once again—but throughout it all, love is their bond, one even death cannot sever.
Often poignant, at times funny, and always riveting, Watching for Dragonflies will serve as comfort—and inspiration—for other caregivers struggling to care for a loved one.
Trade Review2023 Living Now Book Awards Bronze Medalist in Mature Living/Caregiving“A moving story of love, loss, illness, and the beauty that persists.”
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Kirkus Reviews “The moving memoir
Watching for Dragonflies is a wife and caregiver’s tale of contending with a spouse’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis.”
—Foreword Reviews“This story proves we all need one another through happy times, sad times, and every stage in life. Suzanne shows us that moments of pain and pressure can transform one into a more conscious, empathetic, and resilient person. What a highly inspiring and impactful book!”
—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review“I am in awe of Suzanne Marriott. . . She is a searingly honest writer who takes you into a world that is breathtaking in its intimacy, love, and lucidity. She is a deep traveler, a spiritual adventurer, and not only a survivor but a thriver. This is a no-holds-barred memoir by a woman who can lift you out of life’s tight places and help you to breathe, to flow with love, to believe.”
—Judith Fein, award-winning travel journalist, author of
Life is a Trip, The Spoon From Minkowitz, and
How to Communicate with the Dead, teacher, speaker, and blogger about Transformative Travel for PsychologyToday.com
“In her memoir, Suzanne draws on her background in transpersonal psychology to access the spiritual and psychological resources that guide her growth as a caregiver. Empowered by inner wisdom figures, dream revelations, and shamanic and Tibetan Buddhist practices, she develops the inner resources she needs to support her husband in his battle with a chronic illness. This memoir is a gift to anyone dealing with their own feelings of grief and loss.”
—Dr. Marilyn Schlitz, Professor of Transpersonal Psychology and President of the Academic Faculty at Sofia University and CEO/President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences
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Watching for Dragonflies is an inspirational story of personal growth through adversity that will bring comfort and companionship to other caregivers. An intimate and empowering memoir.“
—Rachel Howard, author of
The Lost Night and
The Risk of Us“In
Watching for Dragonflies, Suzanne Marriott writes about her journey with her husband through the good times and the moments thatchallenge their relationship after his diagnosis of MS. It’s a story of love, letting go, and working together as a couple to live fully with awareness and growth on their spiritual journey of body and soul. This book is an important testament about the ups and downs of being a caregiver, and useful to anyone facing health challenges with someone they love.“
—Linda Joy Myers, author
The Forger of Marseille,
The Power of Memoir, and
Song of the Plains“In
Watching for Dragonflies, Suzanne Marriott generously shares her deeply spiritual journey as a caregiver to her husband who suffers from multiple sclerosis. In the throes of loss, disappointment, and pain, courage and love keep arising to meet each challenge. This is an honest and inspiring story of how true intimacy can help carry us through seemingly unbearable loss.“
—Jim Cunningham, Physical Therapist, Marriage and Family Therapist, specializing in Trauma Resolution
“Suzanne Marriott’s caring memoir of her love, marriage, joy, grief and spiritual seeking and of the distresses and challenges of her long caregiving is stunningly honest and inspiring.“
—Judith Van Herik, Professor emerita if Religious Studies, Penn State University
“Services for—and recognition of—family caregivers simply must improve. Honest storytelling like that in Watching for Dragonflies will start a revolution.“
—Gretchen Staebler, author of
Mother Lode: Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver“Suzanne’s intimate story of living through the diagnosis, long decline and death of a loved partner helps one imagine the unimaginable in such a human way. By sharing her story, she helps us face our own fears, and to see that such challenges can bring even deeper connection.“
—Kathryn McCamant, author
Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves and Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities“Thank you for sharing your memoir with me. It’s a moving and compassionate story.“
—Dr. Arthur Hastings, Professor Emeritus, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now Sophia University)
“Suzanne Marriott’s touching memoir stays with the reader long after its final present-tense paragraph. This is a book that needs to be read by anyone who wishes to know what it’s like to go through the stages of a chronic illness. Along with Michael, who has MS, and Suzanne, his wife and caregiver, we experience joy in their successful activities and disappointment in the ineptness of some of their health care providers. We follow the couple through years of health challenges and learn of the events that bond them together and the mishaps that appear to tear them apart. Aided by the author’s journals, which include her dreams, we are treated to realistic descriptions of the couple’s day-to-day lives as well as Suzanne’s premonitions. A very moving, true story.“
—Evelyn Kohl LaTorre, author of
Love in Any Language: A Memoir of a Cross-Cultural Marriage and
Between Inca Walls: A Peace Corps Memoir“Thank you for the moving, beautiful experience.“
—Mike Contino, Educator, California State University East Bay and retired Executive Secretary California Mathematics Council
