The Mountains I Raise

From the Foreword to “The Mountains I Raise”, a collection of a dozen folks’ memory pieces from Terry’s years teaching a Writing from Personal Experience class at her local Senior Center:

In the poem that gives this collection its name, Robert Frost meditates on the difficulty of gathering together a yard full of leaves. Like the gathering up of a lifetime of experiences, he finds it no small task:

‘I may load and unload again and again
Till I fill the whole shed, but what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight, and since they grow duller
From contact with earth, next to nothing for color…’

“Next to nothing for use,” he even says the leaves are, and many of the contributors to this book began by thinking their own experiences “next to nothing” - until slowly, over time, in this writing class that Terry led, their willingness to leave reticence behind made them know otherwise. For didn’t they have such wonderful stories: Mildred's tale of bidding her mother a lakeside farewell; Bill's description of the grace-filled final moments of his son, cut down by cancer in his prime; and Violet's almost mystical account of the old hymn her husband used to literally lift himself into Heaven….”

Praise for The Mountains I Raise:

“I finished your book over the holidays and loved it. Re-reading just about every article has prolonged the experience – joyously! After finishing it, I was reminded of how shabbily our western culture treats its older citizens. We are rushing around so fast we fail to take the time and listen to the wisdom, the warmth and the love they have to share. Thanks for helping to reverse that trend.”

“Thank you so much for the copy of your book. My eyes started misting during your introduction and didn’t stop until I reached the end - then started serious tearing!”