My mother, Susan Woodworth, was an incredible woman. After 60 years of filling the world with her love, wisdom, grace and light, she passed away on September 3, 2016, just five months after her diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
One of the greatest gifts of the past year has been deepening my relationship with her by working on a project compiling her writing and my own writing into a book to publish and share with the world.
This book will continue her life’s work spreading kindness, spirit, love and joy and will explore the concept of “thin places” and the blurring of lines between life and death, between the physical and spiritual realms as she navigated her final months.
It focuses not just on her writing from the last few months of her life that she shared publicly through CaringBridge, but on her poetry, photography and reflections from the rest of her life. Before she died, she asked me to publish her CaringBridge posts and now, more than three years later, I’m honoring that request. It is part of my own healing journey as I navigate my own life without her physical presence but full of her spirit.
And I need your help. I can’t do this alone! What made my mom so special was the number of people whose lives she had an impact on. So many of you were her friends and family and colleagues and parishioners over the years. To include all of you – her community, my community, my family’s community – in this process will:
1. Cover the costs of designing, editing, and publishing the book and make it possible to distribute it to as many people as possible. With your support, I will print extra copies to donate to churches, hospices, hospitals and other places where I think people may connect to my mother’s wisdom and work.
2. Honor Sue’s spirit. Why do something alone when you can involve people you love? This was a core tenant of the way she lived her life, sharing her writing and cooking and baking and knitting and craft projects with those she loved.
3. Share the healing journey. Life is hard, and Sue provided an incredible blueprint for how to navigate through hardship with grace and light.
My goal is to raise $6,000 in the next month to make this project a reality. Please consider donating through my Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chelseafrisbee/a-journey-of-light
Thank you so much for considering supporting this project and the continuation of Sue’s work in the world.