Bridges of Love
Creating Connection and Treasured Memories with Fairy Tales
~A Guest Blog by Debbie Happy Cohen

I have always known that writing fiction would change my life. I began writing Fairy Tales recently, and my life hasn’t been the same since. The lives of my audience have been deeply touched as well; I have NO idea how far the ripples will go.

When I first shared my fairy tales with close friends, I thought they were simply being kind when they encouraged me. Then my friend Milisa (pronounced Meleesa) shared a Personalized Fairy Tale, Lila the Lemur has a Vision, with her 9 year old son Duncan, and reported that he “giggled and wriggled with delight” each time I spoke her name on the audio recording. I knew that I’d touched a heart-chord.  

This is a story he will listen to repeatedly, and the bond between Milisa and her son has grown and deepened as a result of their unique shared experience. This, in turn, deepened the bond of friendship between me and Milisa, and it also brought me a great deal of joy to know that my work, which feels like play, brought others a sense of deep and lasting joy; a memory worth treasuring, for all of us.

I wrote All for Inka for a dear friend to help her smile in the middle of Boston’s coldest and longest winter. I read it aloud to her over the phone to give her a feeling of being so special and cared for and loved, as though receiving a great big warm hug to fill her heart and soul. I hope it also brought a bit of warmth to her chilly body too!

I love my Dad, but he and I rarely see eye-to-eye, and we don’t talk very often. Last year, I sent him a painting of my favorite Hebrew prayer, the Shema, as a gift. I wanted to share with him feelings of generosity and love by painting something just for him. He said he loved it and then – he just had to – he asked me if I had painted it. Yup, that’s my Dad. I snickered and replied, “No, I put my signature on someone else’s painting and sent it to you.” He justified himself by reminding me that he is skeptical about everything and it’s not personal. Ha!

This year, when writing All for Inka, I chose my Dad’s Father’s name, Naji, for the wise medicine man of the Alaskan village. I sent my dad a link to listen to the audio-story, and I let him know that in this unique gift, I was honoring his father by naming an important character after him. Not 30 minutes later, he texted me back and said he loved listening to the story and that it was “the nicest gift he ever received for his birthday or any day… Very moving and well done.”

Wow. Now it was my turn to be skeptical. I had to read his text message a few times to make sure I’d read it correctly. And if you don’t believe me, I can send you his text! LOL! I had deepened a feeling of connection – an unexpected connection – and added to the bridge between us by creating a memory worth treasuring between me and my Dad.

These examples far surpass my hopes about how profoundly my Fairy Tales would touch and move others, of how they could build bridges of love and warmth and connection – between parents and children, and between friends.

I feel extremely blessed to share these Fairy Tales, and to collaborate with an artist whom I adore, and to receive such powerful feedback from our audience. In fact, at times I have to pinch myself because it seems so unreal. Fiction has completely changed my life; and maybe, just maybe, by doing work that I absolutely love, and having it be loved by others, maybe I am getting to be the star of my own Fairy Tale! And why not?

“There is a bridge between you and anything. It is love.” ~ Hafiz

If you would like to star in one of our Fairy Tales, or if you would like to give the priceless gift of an original Fairy Tale to someone you love, visit our store at www.GetFairyTales.com

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Debbie wrote a Personalized Fairy Tale for me recently!  It was such fun and we laughed so much as she read it to me over the phone!  =)