“I do believe something very magical can
happen when you read a good book.”
— J.K. Rowling
Carol and Jerome Cohen: A Love Story for the Ages
My friend Carol Cohen is a creative and passionate soul, one of the greatest cheerleaders of my writing. I can hardly recognize myself in her glowing praise. We first crossed paths when I had the privilege of teaching her beautiful and artistic daughter, Arianne, at Judah Christian School.
When Man in the Mist was released in September 2022, Carol expressed both her eagerness and her hesitance to read a novel about losing the love of your life. You see, just a few months later, on February 16, 2023, Carol experienced that very loss when she said goodbye to her beloved husband, Jerome. (Jerome, by the way, was always my go-to guy for finding things at Menards!)
As you read the words she’s written, I know her prayer is that you will feel the deep love that resonates beneath them—how deeply she loves and honors Jerome. Though he’s no longer here with us, his memory still fills her heart with joy, even amid the pain.
To give you a glimpse of their extraordinary love, Carol has graciously shared a beautiful letter she wrote to Jerome after his passing, a heartfelt tribute that honors their bond.
“Dear love in Heaven,
I’m wondering if you are also remembering what happened this evening, 37 years ago?
It was the 4th night of Hanukkah, a Friday, and you drove over from Scottsdale, to celebrate the festival in Las Cruces.
I learned a Hanukkah song, singing the newly learned words and melody with my guitar, which blessed your heart! Then dinner at a French restaurant, Maison de Mesilla. I kind of suspicioned you may propose at dinner? But it turned out to be delicious food with a very nice gold watch! Hmmm…suspicions were wrong!?
Then back at my apartment, I excused myself to the ladies’ room, and the plan was in motion! I came out. You looked very ‘different’. You had me sit down. Then your knee dropped to the floor. I’m sure my eyes were as large as the moon! You asked the beautiful question, and I said yes while you placed the ring on my right hand! Being the lefty that you are, you thought it was my left hand?
We giggled about that for a long time!
The backstory is this. I fell in love with this beautiful Jewish man on the first date. He didn’t know his Messiah at that time, but God was drawing him, and He had a beautiful plan for his life! He accepted Jesus as his Messiah five months after we met.
Before he proposed on that fourth night of the Feast of Dedication, we both had prayed and fasted a few weeks before, about whether it was indeed God’s plan for our lives to entwine, for we had fallen in love so deeply. Both of us willing to separate if we heard “No.” I remember the snowy Organ Mountains when my prayer and fasting time had ended.
I have heard the clear voice of God four times in my life. I tell you that the words “count the cost” regarding marrying this handsome, intense, generous, and kind man were as clear as day. I now know that there was much meaning in those words for his people became MY people. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was already my God. What his people go through, I feel painfully and deeply. I have felt the cost to this very day, regarding my love for Israel, and my desire for her to embrace the promised Messiah.
I still see him in my mind’s eye…and heart…radiant and happy in Heaven, fully embracing all that surrounds him. I still wonder if he also reflects on the day he asked me to marry him…the asking…the answering…the plan for a life together that only God could have kept together. And He did! A three stranded cord is not easily broken. Amen.
I love you, my Jerome Peter Cohen.
Always and forever!
Carol’s words reflect a deep love, and if you’ve read Man in the Mist, you’ll have a better understanding of the heartfelt post she shared on Facebook about reading my novel.
The power of the written word in book form: a healing story…
Remembering our love story makes me ache and long for him. It has been a bittersweet day, heavy on the sweet, though. February 16th marked two years since his flight to Heaven. A more difficult year indeed. Today, the first day of Spring, would have been an amazing 37 years of marriage with my amazing Jerome!
Sharing my Jerome in photos and words helps soothe the forever heartbreak. You, my Facebook friends, help also. Seeing your names, people I taught and taught with, worshipped God with, went to high school with, cried with, shared bakery life with, performed on the stage with, people I’ve never met in person but have seen parts of your life…you!!
December 10th, 2022, I had plans to pick up Cherie Roberson’s first novel at a book buying/signing event in Champaign. I was SO excited to see and support this beautiful and talented soul, this word artist, who taught Arianne in high school.
The morning arrived and with it came the start of an intense and painful time for my love and us. My Jerry was transported to the emergency room by ambulance, with a 11 day hospital stay unfolding. I didn’t buy her book or attend her event.
I knew her book, Man in the Mist, was about a widow and her grief experience, along with an adventure in Scotland and finding love again. I knew I had to read it, especially now having the unwelcome title of ‘widow’. I just wasn’t ready for a long while, even though I had purchased it much later, it sitting on my nightstand, waiting for my heart to breathe in courage.
Twenty months after her book event, I opened the treasure. Yes. 20. Was I ready?
I breathed in her words. I earmarked so many pages, pages her word artistry grabbed me in such a way that made me gasp, and sometimes drop tears, and want to return to those pages and read and read again. For, I related to the emotions that flooded from the heroine, from Cherie, to my hurting heart.
The last few chapters I had to soak in gently and slowly. I finished it 17 days after starting. The timing was right. My heart had been finally ready. I couldn’t stop crying when I finished the beautiful healing word art.
Cherie’s second novel recently came out, Trusting Love. I’ve begun to read it, savoring each page. On Saturday, the 29th, I am going to my first book signing event in Mahomet. She will read passages from her book, and I can’t wait to hear what she chooses! The earmarks are starting to be plentiful in THIS book as well as her first one! Grief, love, and the touch of God’s faithfulness is heavy in this new novel, just like her first novel.
My healing journey continues, and the journey is made easier by not only soaking in Cherie’s healing and endearing words, but by continuing to draw close to Abba Father and Jesus, Who I know will never leave me or forsake me for He is near to the brokenhearted. Amen.
I asked Carol for a couple of the areas in Man in the Mist that deeply resonated with her. She said, “It was hard to pick just two,” and sent me four. (Spoilers ahead if you haven’t read my novel.)
p. 43
p. 208
p. 236
p. 269
My wish is that you stumble upon stories that feel like falling in love—books that wrap around your heart, whisper to your soul, and stay with you long after the final page. That’s why I write: to craft something beautiful enough to be held close, maybe even cherished.
Cheers,
Cherie
“A book is a friend
that never lets you down.
It’s a light in the darkness,
a solace in times of anxiety.
So, keep reading, keep exploring,
and let the power of words guide you
towards a calmer, stronger,
and more resilient you.”
— Alistair McLeod