The more I tried to get this across to her the more she insisted that she did want to reach her goal, but she could not seem to control the outside influences that were blocking her way. I assured her that she did have more control than she realized. Having said that, I informed her that I would rescue her only this one last time, because temporary bailouts merely enabled her to seek the easy way out every time instead of finding a permanent solution to the problem. Since that time she has not contacted me, but her brother says that things are not so good with her right now.

Last December when it all happened, I racked my brain for a way to help her understand the power that she holds over her life by the decisions she makes, and finally came up with a solution for my dilemma. I could write a book! But how??? And what format???? I mulled this over intensely throughout the holidays, a season dominated by a spirit of helping others and giving of yourself to them. By early January those questions had answers so I began writing a draft I initially called DEAR FRIEND. This is a letter exchange between anonymous pen pals. who could safely explore many subjects close to their young hearts by sharing their life experiences with each other.

Eventually I realized that there are many books out there with titles similar to this, so I searched in every dictionary and thesaurus for a synonym for FRIEND and finally came up with MYRMIDON. I was fairly certain that it should stand out from the crowd since there likely aren’t many books with that word in the title. I really appreciate this uniqueness, although I just hope it doesn’t chase off prospective readers, since I found out later that it has a negative connotation in some circles.

It was easy to write the first letter exchange, since it was like the one I shared with a pen pal in Louisiana when I was a teenager. From then on I awakened many mornings with my thoughts filling with the “answer” to the latest letter. They just seemed to flow, and I floated right along with them. I never knew where this river of words was headed, I merely sat at the computer and let my fingers tap the keys as I drifted along on the current of inspiration.

I usually answered only one letter per day, and did not think at all about the answer to it. Sometimes several days or even weeks passed between letters, just as they would have done in real life. Then I could read and answer each letter with a fresh and unbiased eye, just as each girl would do. And that way I could more easily “be” alternately the high-schooler and the college girl.

I started the book because of my granddaughter, but I hope that it will also help others to understand the principles I wanted to convey to her. This should apply both to young people who still have dreams to pursue, and to older folks who can look back and see how their choices directed their lives toward or away from their dreams.

The thoughts have been quiet since June when I finished the first draft of HELLO MYRMIDON, but recently they started flowing again. So I decided that offering a blog on this website is the way for now to continue to share my life experience as I did in the book. Perhaps someday this content will be published also, we just have to wait and see. I don’t have any idea about where this river is flowing, I will just continue to let my fingers tap the keys and float along until the destination is in sight.