When you're heartsick, pick up the book.

Sadness is a part of life and books are a pathway out.

It’s been about 16 years since we miscarried our first baby. I remember it was the first time in life, and certainly the first time since my husband and I had been married, that we were faced with this stark reality: we are not in control.

Since that difficult period, there have been many other seasons of life that proved that same point. We’ve been married 21 years this past week and have had no shortage of heartache. Lost pregnancies, death, severe illness, the ending of family relationships, and the list could go on and on.

It’s a truly beautiful life that we have forged, but it has not been without pain. This is simple the truth of life - you will encounter times of deep hurt. During the moments when my heart felt the heaviest, I fell the most in love with books. Blame it on escapism, that’s alright by me. I did need to escape, for a brief time, and wander off into a fictional land with a cast of characters that I could play make-believe with. I found this to be true for my daughters, as well.

About 5yrs ago our beloved Molly died. Molly was our dog of 15 years. We had just uprooted our (at the time) three girls from the only home they had ever known - California - and transplanted in Virginia. We had lived here no more than a month and our sweet, yellow lab died. It was heartbreaking.

I handed each of my girls new books and told them to hole up in their rooms and read. I also gave them the liberty to eat as much candy and cheeseballs as they wanted. Sometimes you just loosen the reigns. My three girls would emerge from their rooms periodically and I could see that the magic of good literature was having its way with each of them. They seemed lighter, with almost a twinkle in their eye.

Of course, I’m not advocating that we stay in a perpetual cycle of pretend - never to deal with our real-life issues and emotions. However, sometimes you need to disappear into a wardrobe, or down a yellow brick road and forget the woes of the world.

Below are several books that will offer a respite for tired hearts. I’ve come back to them again and again and again. So have my girls. Each time they mean something a little different, but I’m always rested on the other side of the cover.