“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful that the risk it took to blossom.”
–Anais Nin
Author Biography
Growing up during the 1960s in Shreveport, Louisiana was rather ordinary, except that my mother was a paraplegic. It wasn’t until I was five years old that I even asked why she was in a wheelchair. Her explanation was the first of a million stories that I would hear about her extraordinary life and the love that she and my father shared.
I etched these stories into my mind knowing one day that I would write a book about their beautiful relationship. This desire became even more urgent after my mother’s death, and so to prevent their love story from dying with them, I began to write their biographies.
Chronicling their lives brought my father and me even closer, and it allowed for a seven-year conversation, that I never imagined us having. During purposeful interviews and spontaneous chats, I learned the intimate details of my parents’ lives–information that had never before come up in casual family conversation.
Interspersed throughout our dialogue were intriguing discussions about history and philosophical ponderings about God and life. My father’s passion for these topics during my life is exactly what led me to read a variety of books about similar subjects, especially history, religion, spirituality and metaphysics. When I realized that we shared common interests and beliefs, I wondered if there was a higher purpose for our being together. That question was answered, after meeting the past life therapist who revealed my parents’ many past lives.
The therapist said that, prior to incarnating into this lifetime, my soul and those of my parents decided to be together as a family. This was so I could witness their unique lives and feel compelled to use their love story as a backdrop to relay their message to humanity.
Looking back over the years, I can see exactly how I came to the point of writing Reunion on the Rainbow Bridge: My Parents’ Past Lives and the One They Shared With Me.
The primary influence was, of course, my parents’ extraordinary love, but also playing a profound role in my life was having teachers appear when I was ready to learn and crossing paths with people who shared their spiritual wisdom, as well as being guided to read dozens of books which show a definite pattern of interest.
In retrospect, I am amazed at how all the pieces fit together and how synchronicity played a role in bringing me to the point where I am today with all my evolving beliefs, knowledge, questions and passions. And, that doesn’t even take into account the cellular memories and influence of all my past lives.
This illustrates to me how precious and complex each one of us is as an individual, traveling on our own spiritual path within a collective consciousness. Understanding this leaves me overflowing with love for the oneness that we are as spiritual beings having a human experience. At the same time, it leaves me seeking answers to the questions that present themselves at every turn on my spiritual path. These questions will be what I write about next.
That is why Reunion on the Rainbow Bridge will not be my only book, but rather my first in a series that explores the grand truth, which is that we, as humans, animals, plants and Mother Earth, are one entity whose only purpose is to reflect the love that is our Creator and to co-create with that I AM presence to manifest a Heaven on Earth.
Sherri Defesche
Professional Biography
Education
St. Edward’s University
Austin, Texas
Classes Completed (Jan. 1999-May 2000): Principles of Style/English Writing and Rhetoric,
Journalism, and Small Business Management
University of Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana
Major: Office Administration
Degree: Associate of Science (August 1980)
Professional Experience
St. Edward’s University
Austin, Texas
Dates: December 2001 to present
Position: Recruitment Event Coordinator, Office of Undergraduate Admission
Duties: Coordination of student recruitment events
Precision Planning
Austin, Texas
Dates: August 2000-June 2002
Duties: Established this successful home-based business as a sole proprietor, which specialized in professional organizing, personal assistant services and relocation assistance
Full-Time Homemaker, Mother and Wife
Shreveport, LA; Chicago, IL; Brussels, Belgium and Austin, TX
Dates: 1988-2000
For 12 years I was privileged to have the best job in the world—being a full-time homemaker and stay-at-home mother for my two daughters. My life revolved around the magic and wonder of my children, as I spent each day nurturing their curiosity, encouraging their creative interests, listening to their dreams and learning from them about what is truly most important in life.
During this time, I was also involved in community service, especially with Meals on Wheels, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Casa Montessori Child Development Center.
The Boots Company (USA), Inc. (now known as BASF)
Shreveport, Louisiana
Dates: November 1981-June 1988
Position: Regulatory Affairs Assistant
Duties: Office administration functions related to preparing documents for distribution to the Food & Drug Administration for New Drug Approval
Employment prior to September 1982: details are available upon request.
Professional and Personal Affiliations
- The Author’s Guild
- The Writers League of Texas
- The Foundation for Conscious Evolution
- Teach Only Love
- National Association of College Admission Counselors
- Texas Association of College Admission Counselors
Career Objective
Now that Reunion on the Rainbow Bridge is slated for release on August 25, 2009, I am intensely focused on its promotion.
Simultaneously, I am in the outline stages of writing a book about grief, which will be co-authored by my daughters. The narrative comes from our collective painful experience as a result of the sudden death of their father. It chronicles how we were able to walk through the unfathomable grief and come out on the other side with our mental, physical and emotional well-being intact. It also contains advice to teens, spouses and ex-spouses, who are going through the same experience and elaborates on what is helpful during the grief process and what callous comments to ignore. It will conclude with a special chapter, which contains letters written by those who have lost a loved one, who wanted one more chance to say the things that had been left unspoken.
After this book is published, I will continue to write others, especially related to conscious evolution and spirit communication, while traveling the world speaking to others who wish to engage in discussion about these soulful topics.
Personal information
• Mother of two radiant, Indigo children: Anne-Marie (1989) and Isabella (1992)
• Lived in Shreveport, Louisiana, Chicago, Illinois and Brussels, Belgium and now call Austin, Texas home
• Foreign travel to England, France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg
• Married to Charles Defesche, M.D., native of The Netherlands from 1988-2000
• Re-married in February, 2006 to Matthew Garding of Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Personal interests: reading and communing with nature
