The Story Behind "When Mimi Grew Wings"

My mom passed away from lung cancer on August 31, 2021. She was 60 years old. At the time I had a 1 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. Shortly after she passed away, my daughter started to ask hard questions about Mimi. Where did she go? Can I call her? Can I go to heaven to see her? Can she see me? As any heartbroken mom would do, I searched for a book. For a way to explain where I believed that Mimi went. All of my life, I have always known by some force greater than me that heaven isn't too far away. I find myself often dealing with the pain of death a little bit differently then most. I guess, I have the gift of knowing. But anyways, I digress... I wanted something that my daughter and son could hold onto. That they could also just know that my mom was around. And so I had a thought and then that thought turned into 35 minutes of me writing the book. That is all it took. 35 minutes on my back patio, and I'd like to think that my mom was right there breathing the words on to the page for me. When the rough draft was complete, I wanted to keep it for myself. I thought, surely no one make this book as perfect as it would need to be to fit my standards for my mom. Nevertheless, I wanted to share. And a thought turned to a whole lot more, and over a year in the making. I rejected illustrations, I started drawing my own illustrations and changed my mind, I made changes, and rejected more illustrations. I worried, and stressed about how it would turn out or if it would even ever make it to print. As I sit here today, I am so grateful to say that it is done. When Mimi Grew Wings grew from a thought inside of my head during a time of extreme saddness and it has since blossomed into a beautiful childrens book with whimsy, color, love and light. My hope for this book is that it will reach far and wide. I hope that it will remind you that our loved ones are never too far away. I am so excited to share it with hearts who need it & I hope that you love it as much as I do.

With Love,

-Dana