This week I’m hosting Liz Johnson with Navy Seal Noel and Kathi Macias with A Christmas Gift (print-US only; ebook-worldwide). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on your post with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (Dec. 21st) evening.
Interview with the heroine from A Christmas Gift by Kathi Macias:
1. Julia Lawson Bennington, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
Even though I spent the majority of my adult life as a wife, mother and teacher, I’ve always had a longing to teach underprivileged children, particularly in other countries.
2. What do you do for fun?
I used to do anything/everything with my beloved husband. We’d go antiquing, walking the beach, out for dinner at remote places…. Now that he’s gone I feel as if I’ve forgotten how to have fun.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Holidays, particularly Thanksgiving and Christmas. My husband and I always made a big deal out of holiday, but especially those two. The house seems empty now, though, especially with our two children off at college. To be honest, I’d like to skip the holidays altogether, but my parents and children won’t let me.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
Being alone, though that’s where I find myself most often these days. I know I need to reach out and get involved again, find a life for myself and move on. But it simply seems too overwhelming to consider.
5. What do you want out of life?
I want to go back to the life I shared with my husband; obviously I can’t do that. And though I love my parents and my college-age children—and I know I should feel grateful for them—I still feel alone and purposeless. Except…when I consider picking up my old dream of teaching abroad. How I would accomplish something like that, I can’t imagine, but a shred of the dream remains in my otherwise shattered and empty life.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
My children. But they’re off at college now, getting ready to spread their wings and launch into lives of their own. I know that’s how it should be, but the thought just compounds my heartache.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
I used to be an avid reader, particularly of romance books. Now that my husband is dead, I can’t imagine ever reading one again. It would be too painful. So now I read only out of necessity.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My tendency to withdraw into myself and refuse to come out. I know it’s not healthy for me and certainly not fun for others to be around, but it’s something I just can’t change on my own. People tell me I should ask God to help me, but God and I haven’t had a very close relationship lately. Sometimes I wonder if He’s forgotten my address.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
No pets. We had a couple of dogs when the children were growing up, but the last one died just months before my husband died, and I just haven’t the heart to get a new one. I feel as if I don’t have the energy or love to give to a pet.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
Oh, it would surely be to our honeymoon, when my husband and I were first starting our wonderful years together. I would relive every one of those years—months, weeks, days, hours, moments—and appreciate them so much more this time around!
