OUR BOOK: WHEN DREAMS DIE & FAIRYTALES FADE
INTRODUCTION
We are ordinary individuals whose dreams didn’t come true, the fairy tale faded and life became a mess. We were left broken by grief, loss, fear, shame and sheer exhaustion.
We invite you to walk alongside us as we share our story openly and honestly. There is some reservation in doing so. We’ve heard plenty of criticism and experienced rejection at deeply personal levels through the years. However, our attempts to cover up the mess only led to deeper disappointments, incredible isolation and personal pain.
The research of Dr. Brene Brown identifies that the birthplace of truer joy, deeper love and a place of belonging is found in our willingness to be vulnerable. We welcome the community of the broken by courageously telling our story rather than propping up facades.
We’re stepping out of the shadows and into the light of transparency to bring encouragement and hope to those who can relate to our experiences - infertility, multiple miscarriages, adoption, parenting challenges, navigating complex medical, behavioral, educational and legal systems, job loss, financial ruin, marriage crisis, career change and more. We are not alone. You are not alone!
Everyone experiences disappointments. Life is a series of disappointments. It’s what we do with them that defines us.
This book is not for the spectator in the grandstand of life whose quick commentary and criticism comes from a narrow and misinformed perspective. We write for our fellow fighter who has experienced life’s disappointments at deep levels. Those who have drank from the cup of grief and loss. We write for the person still in the arena.
It is our hope that you will experience healing and find strength by joining us on this journey.
- Tony & Lori Cloud
“IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS: Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. THE CREDIT BELONGS TO THE MAN WHO IS ACTUALLY IN THE ARENA, whose face is marred by dust, sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and WHO AT THE WORST, IF HE FAILS, AT LEAST HE FAILS WHILE DARING GREATLY, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
