I LOVED YOU
long before I ever met you.
Long before I ever knew
the contours
of your face
Before I ever wrapped my arms
around your waist;
long before I ever met you.
Long before I ever knew
the contours
of your face
Before I ever wrapped my arms
around your waist;
Dear Readers:
I am so incredibly psyched to share with you tonight that at 8:28 P.M. EST, I completed my beautiful and inspiring Nanowrimo Project for 2022. The targeted timeline was for Nov 30th but I made it with eight days to spare! So happy and proud!!!
This one was a labor of love, inspired by the tragedy of the November 2021 B.C. floods in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, specifically near Abbotsford.
My heroine, Ria Brooke, lost her home when it was swept away down the river. She has spent the last six years rebuilding her home after the untimely death of her husband, John.
Now, devastated, and waiting on her insurance claim and browsing the rental homes, she is offered a place to stay by dear friends Bill and Laura Everly, who own a ranch and run the youth shelter, a nonprofit organization that provides food, clothes, and lodging for at risk youth. Ria was hired as an admin person at the shelter shortly before the floods came and washed her home away. She considers herself hugely blessed to have such a loving and supportive couple in her life, Bill and Laura, who brighten her days with their compassion, wit and laughter, not to mention, Laura's home cooking and hospitality.
Laura's other talent is matchmaking, and who better to set Ria up with an eligible bachelor type than Laura herself! She has her eyes on the ruggedly handsome older gentleman, a retiree, who volunteers twice a week at the shelter, using his truck to bring furniture to the youth.
Keir Weston is tall, lanky and impossibly handsome, with his silvery mane and beard, his sultry voice and aloof demeanor. One look from Ria and sparks fly! The only problem is, Keir got badly burned by a bitter divorce two decades ago, and he's kept to himself and doesn't want to be tied down. He finds a kinship with the lovely, evolved woman, though, and feels a stirring in his heart that he thought he would never feel again, and decides to test the waters.
But Ria is vulnerable and scared. She's lost the one man she thought she had forever with, and now she lost her beloved home. Falling for Keir was not her mission, but she can't help but open her heart to the sexy silver fox who seems vulnerable and sad too, under his well-drawn facade.
When New Year's Eve comes, the big bash of the year is held at the Everly ranch, and Keir decides to show up out of the blue. Ria wants to spill her feelings and tell Keir that he is the only man for her, but will he accept her offer of love, or run for the hills and deny them both the love they both desperately need from one another?
The Heart Is a River is a story of hope, heart and healing. It's a passionate story of deep wounds and old hurts coming to the surface. But it is also the story of finding the courage to light the lamp for love just one more time.
I just know you are going to love this heart-tugging story.
Coming soon!!
Much love,
RR xo
These arms of mine
are empty, so empty
since the day you left
This heart of mine
it echoes a pain so deep
The angels even weep
So please come back soon
and fill this space
I need your loving embrace
to warm
These arms of mine
--Rochelle Renee --
Oct 5, 2022
6:17 p.m.
Dear Readers,
It has been said by the great writer of our time, Louise Hay, who is now dearly departed but lives on in our hearts and her ample library of self help writings and new age awareness:
"When you don't know what else to do, focus on love. Loving yourself makes you feel good, and good health is really about feeling good."
This past year, I've hit a personal crisis. Mental health and emotional health. I lost a job that meant a lot to me. A job working with seniors at a retirement home. I was targeted, bullied and harrassed by management over my bad knee. From February 2021 during my first diagnosis over x-ray of osteoarthritis in the knee, to limping on the job in March and April, to getting a cortisone shot that helped me for three months and then the subsequent pain and limping that followed in September (once that shot had worn off in July), I was targeted by management for my "disability."
November brought a knee sprain diagnosis, running around a dining hall serving meals to seniors. Two weeks off work, a WSIB claim, and management spreading lies and rumors about me through the building ("it's not a tear, you can't use that language in your insurance paperwork," the nasty, control freak business director screamed at me on the phone. "These agents don't want to pay out the money. I've dealt with these people for a long time, I know my stuff." She went on to brag that her "daughter is a soccer star in Spain, and she tore a ligament and needed surgery." Comparing MY injury to her daughter's? Then invalidating me and shaming me without having the final word from my MRI? How atrocious and appalling, not to mention, completely out of line from a Human Resources point of view. In the end, my agent at WSIB was more than accommodating with all my paperwork, doctor visits and backbiting with staff. He happily refunded every penny to me that was lost on two weeks worth of wages, while being sidelined at home.
I was wait-listed three and a half months for the MRI, from the November booking til the March appointment. To add insult to injury, a maintenance guy at work got in my face and yelled at me over a broken vacuum (not my fault). He shouted: "you're just lazy and full of shit. All you want is to go off on another insurance claim." This could not be further from the truth. I'd just had an MRI at the hospital on March 1st, and the results came in March 30th, via my booked follow-up appointment with my surgeon. It was a meniscus tear under the knee cap. But the buffoons at the seniors home did not wait to hear back from my MRI results. The manager fired me March 15th and I was devastated.
My work at the retirement home was one filled with love, and I poured that love into every day I spent there, four and a half years of it. The seniors were my "family," and our mutual affection and respect for one another was felt deeply. When job loss occurs, there is a strong mental, emotional and physical downfall that happens. First, the shock that it happened at all. Second, the depression over losing my community and sense of self. Third, social life is nonexistent, and you now have a life that you do not recognize that is waiting at home. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and I would spend the next number of months in deep sorrow, gloom and self punishment. When the first week of August hit, I dragged myself out of bed one sunny afternoon and dusted off the exercise bike that was sitting there being neglected. My first ride was 12 km and 30 minutes clocked. Then, I worked my way up to 16 km and then 18 km for 44 minutes in a session. Four times a week, I forced myself on that bike. "Rochelle, you've got to get yourself out of this slump, or you'll be good for no one. Not even for yourself," my inner critic chided.
Suddenly, I had perspective. I also had something that I'd lost with the job dismissal; MEANING.
As with anything that leaves our life, we have to find our way back to the meaningful part. I attached MEANING now to my daily routine. It was not just getting out of bed at noon (because, what else was there to look forward to?) but it was also the fact that I had an exercise routine. I had my coffee, my oatmeal, and my Tetley lemon tea and three liters of water per day. Get the muscles moving, release those positive endorphins, change my mindset, stop beating myself up, don't be so glum.
To add to the mix of sorrow, the man I love had distanced himself from me over a misunderstanding when a "frenemy" of mine phoned up the funeral home behind my back and badgered my Special Person with demands that he" take Rochelle out to dinner or give it up with
I'd waited 11 months for this beautiful man to come back from the west coast where he lived, and have a wonderful reunion of souls this summer in Southern Ontario, just east of Toronto, while he split his time between the cottage up north and his sister's place, a 10-minute drive from me. Well, after that frenemy sabotaged my Specific Person and me, it was game over. He broke my heart by saying he "didn't want a relationship, I hope you find what you're looking for, I wish you well." I picked up the phone to explain everything and try to tell him my side, but he refused to answer. He ghosted me after that, and I spiralled down into a deep depression for months. This is a man in his '60s who was raised by a good father and mother, and knew better than to lead me on this way. He also has serious health issues that might require surgery down the road, and he'd endured a heart surgery in October 2020, so the drama from that traitorous ex-friend of mine just seemed to be the "nail in the coffin" for us. He won't speak to me.
My heart is shattered beyond repair at the ghastly and devious events that have transpired this year. It has been an awakening that has gutted me, in so many ways, and I have felt paralyzed with the depths of sorrow and heartache. My Specific Person means the world to me; he inspired three of my books, he has seen me through the hardest times of this past year (getting Covid, knee injury, bullied at work, losing the job). He was also my biggest cheerleader when the first book in the "Love Walked In" series was released in July 2021. To put it bluntly, he is my soulmate and I love him with the magnitude of an earthquake and the force of a tsunami. His arrival to my life on Nov 9th, 2018 forever transformed me, and I can't feel anything but massive love and compassion for this incredible man. To say my heart is brimming with devotion for him would be a huge understatement; my heart belongs to him. I don't want to do this life without him. I mean that.
Back to the "feeling good" part. It was surely a process, and a long journey back to self, indeed. After getting my heart broken and losing the job, my new life is now about caring for my bad knee, updating this blog, seeking a job, and healing my brokenness. Yes, this is the "new normal."
I have every faith that my Special Person will return. He is taking a break, getting ready for a medical procedure out west when he returns home this month (hopefully to put him into remission with his illness) and he is still grieving his parents who both died in early 2020. Hence, the funeral this past July, a celebration of life for his beloved father, who was also one of my own soulmates. He has a weak heart from a heart valve replacement, and that is no walk in the park.
Tell me, in the comment section under this blog, have you ever endured a separation from your Beloved, and how long was that? What was the outcome when he/she returned? What discoveries did you make along the way about yourself? I would be intrigued to know what took place and if there was a happy reunion?
As you know, I am a big fan of the Law of Attraction and I apply it to my life every day. I've seen the massive returns from it, over the course of the last seven years or more.
This road back to Self really is about Loving Yourself. Focus on that love, and it will fill you up so deeply, and will overflow into other areas of your life. It really does all begin with Self.
I am sending you healing vibes and massive love today.
I hope to hear from those who have reunion stories with their twin flame or Specific Person.
Cheering for you always,
RR xo
Dear Readers,
I am thrilled and honored to be featured as the main author profile this week on The Bookshelf Cafe News site.
The link is below:
Thank you to my readers for your continued support.
With much love always,
RR xo
Blue Moon
In midnight fields/ we frolic and smile/ Once in a blue moon/ a love like this comes along/ Silvery and full/ Bathing the night meadows with a radiance/ Hand in hand/ You guide me/ illuminate me/ head to toe/ I'm surrounded by the glory/ of these wings in flight/ we're two doves soaring/ peaceful/ amid the still night/ crickets and hush/ kisses and whispers/ careful now/ don't wake the sleeping fools/ who do not feel and do not believe/ in Twin Flame love or miracles waking/ so lucky we are/ like hand in glove/ we fit so right/ you fade into me and I into you/breathless, reckless/ the fresh cut grass is jealous/ as we roll together/ passion, abandon, mirth/ the Blue Moon and love's spell/ our aphrodisiac. <3
~Rochelle Renee~
DESTINY
Somewhere there waiteth
in this world of ours
For one lone soul another lonely soul
Each choosing each through all the weary hours
And meeting strangely at one sudden goal
Then blend they, like green leaves with golden flowers
Into one beautiful and perfect whole;
And life's long night is ended, and the way
Lies open onward to eternal day.
by Edwin Arnold (poet)
***with special thanks to my radio hero, Don Jackson, of CHFI FM 98.1, who hosted his Canada-wide show "Lovers & Other Strangers" from 1990 to 2010. He read this poem on one of his shows. I was a devoted listener who spent many weeknights curled up by the radio in my room, taking notes on Don's wonderful show. He featured magazine articles, quotes and poetry about relationships and also played the most beautiful love songs. Don will be sadly missed forever. Jan 12-1954 to July 12 -2020. Thank you for all the memories, Don***
Long before I knew you
Before our eyes ever met
or paths even crossed
Before space and time
Aligned us
Together
I knew I loved you
That your spirit was
out there
floating in the atmosphere
searching for me too
Longing for
Connection
and kinship
and profound love
Long before this old heart
would conspire
with the Powers
of the Universe
Something within me
Just Knew
That you would
MANIFEST
Long before I held you
in these lonely arms
Some part of me
always knew
I would find you
And my soul just
Overflows
with the gushing force
of a river
that has been set free
of its own accord
and how BLESSED
I feel!
To know your Divine Love
and the Splendor
Of You
My sweet, beautiful man
At last, I've found you!
At long last, the tides
have shifted
After the earthquake, storms
and avalanche,
Alas, it's YOU
Divinely imperfect,
sincere, lovable, steadfast,
loyal and supremely generous
"YOU"-
and my heart cannot contain
This Joy
For all the angels in heaven
are singing
their hearts out
sounding the trumpets of Glory
and God himself is blessing this
Divine Union
God Bless You ~
Dear Heart~
Finally,
We are One
Finally,
Forever,
Amen xo
- Rochelle Renee- Sat Feb 12, 2022
10:53 am
Helpless, utterly helpless
Is how I feel
scared
vulnerable
like a little girl
wanting her blanket and teddy
Stripped bare of all my defenses
and armor
that I'd taken to battle
before you arrived
Standing here
in your presence
without an excuse
or anything to hide behind
I am forced
to look in the mirror
and see who I am
and it terrifies me
all my life
I was made to be the strong one
the oldest girl, the tough one,
fight the good fight, they said
and it will all work out for you
well, I'm tired and spent
exhausted
drained
from fighting the good fight
I'm tattered and worn
needing the comfort
and reassurance
of your loving hand
My Beloved
if I'd only known
how painful and real
and raw
this was going to be
I don't know if I'd have chosen you
But in the choosing, I had no choice
for you were hand-delivered
assigned, embedded, and designated
through our DNA codes
and soul contracts
So I sit here
in awe
in fear
and wonder
over you
and hope
this is not
all in vain
My Beloved.
~Rochelle Renee~ Jan 15-2022
#poem #poetry #lovepoem #author #romance #passion #romanticfiction #soulmates #soulconnection #soulcontract #twinsouls #beloved #husband #wife #together #partners #novelist #novels #fraservalleybc #missionbc #britishcolumbia #newhome
Sharing a poem with you that I wrote this past week. Hope you enjoy and feel all the massive love, as we enter this blessed Valentine's realm for 2022.
RR xo
KINDRED~~
Strange,
How worlds collide
yet somehow we blend
we merge
like two lost lonely souls
who have been wandering
for decades
Eerie,
how we look for perfection
yet what we NEED is right before our eyes
we speak to each other's hearts
and flirt with fate
and then we take for granted
the hours, the minutes,
the milliseconds,
that we could be making love
and counting stars.
Funny,
how we think we're experts
on what works in the grand scheme
of the universe
when all along, three years wasted,
we were KINDRED -- soulmates -- twin souls
all this time
right under our nose
the most magnificent miracle
we could ever imagine
we are flawed, impeccable, ancient
KINDRED
that is what we are
and I want to kiss your scars, bless your failings,
and fall at your feet
just so you can see the beauty
that is you
and only you.
--Rochelle Renee -- Jan 25, 2022
With massive joy and gratitude, I am here to announce that I finished #NaNoWriMo2021 with flying colors!!
50,000 words may seem daunting every year on the 1st day of November, when an author stares at a blank page and asks the age-old question: Am I Crazy for signing up to this madness???
The answer is always "NO" - you are not crazy. Maybe crazy passionate, YES!
Since November 2012, my maiden voyage into the NaNoWriMo waters, I have competed for the title a total of 10 astounding times!!! EEK!!!!
This year, I made it. 51,169 words on Nov 26th, just a few days before the deadline. The finished product (first draft) is my third Christmas novella, and it's Book 3 in the "LOVE WALKED IN" series.
I could not have done it without the support, love, and inspiration of my best friend, my favorite muse, "KW" -- whom all three books in the Ken & Rileigh Trilogy have been dedicated to. This loving soul is my rock, my cheerleader -- my everything. To think that three short years ago, this incredible man was not in my life, well it astounds me!!! We met in the most remarkable way, and it could only have been Divinely Orchestrated; there is no other explanation. Both of us live 2700 miles apart, myself on the east coast of Canada and he on the west coast. But the fates brought him to Ontario, and the rest is history, as they say. To borrow a quote from KW: "All is well."
Gratitude overwhelms me as I write this blog post. I've been gifted with the most loving connection, and every day I pinch myself to see if it is real. Miracles come in all shapes and sizes, I have learned. Sometimes it is a gift from out of nowhere, be it monetary, or not. Other times, a miracle is a person with a good heart who has come to enrich our lives and open our hearts.
Love's Christmas Promise is a feel-good Christmas story, a holiday gem sparkling with love, abundance, family ties, and sizzling passion. It's the story of Ken & Rileigh, two soulmates who've forged a wonderful life together. In this book, Rileigh wishes for a white Christmas, and her husband Ken wishes for a miracle of his own. While I won't give anything away here, two wishes are about to be granted in the most shocking way. Stay tuned for the December 2021 publication of this beautiful love story, a romantic comedy packed with glittering lights, festivities, and family bonds.
Thank you, KW, for always holding space for me, for being concerned about my health and well-being, for uplifting me, and for being the Man of My Dreams.
With All My Love,
RR xo
Dear Readers,
As you know, every November, it's NaNoWriMo (or better known as National Novel Writing Month)here, and this author devotes herself to penning a 50k word novel in the span of 30 days. There's roughly 600,000 of us who commit to this quest; it's mainly a benchmark for writers who want to challenge themselves to getting at least ONE novel completed every year. It's so much fun!!!! Oh, the insomnia, oh the coffee marathons, oh the THRILL OF IT ALL!!!!
This year, I've decided to add Book Three
I will be updating this blog with the progress of the book as it is written.
I am STOKED for this TRILOGY!!!
May you all enjoy this beautiful Autumn that is currently upon us.
With SO MUCH love and laughter,
RR xo
Dear Readers,
As you know, this summer, I launched the beautiful romantic novel "Love Walked In," which was based on a true story.
The unforgettable love affair between Ken and Rileigh, it moved me so deeply, that I couldn't put my characters to bed (pardon the pun) and just close them off forever. I needed to experience them again. Over and over. So I decided to write a TRILOGY!!
Book 2 is called "LOVE ENDURING." It takes place one year after LOVE WALKED IN.
Rileigh is home at her luxury cabin by the river in Mission, B.C., the home she shares with her loving husband, Ken, when she receives a letter in the mail. It's an invite to a wedding in Ontario for her friend Sarah Morgan, who up until now, has kept her nuptials under wraps. Hurt, Rileigh vies to understand why someone close to her would keep such a secret.
What ensues is a trip to Ontario, an adventure of the heart, between lovebirds Ken and Rileigh; he wants her to reunite with her residents at the seniors home, to celebrate their belated one year wedding anniversary at a Victorian bed & breakfast, and to patch up the misunderstanding between besties Sarah and Rileigh. But returning to her native land proves so much more to Rileigh. She will discover truths about her former hometown and the people she loved, she will witness things she never imagined happening, and even more, her love for Ken will deepen.
When the unthinkable happens, Rileigh has to face a truth that could forever alter her life with Ken and shift their relationship, for better or worse. Can she reveal the secret to her beloved? Or will she hold back and endure this on her own?
LOVE ENDURING is the magical story of a timeless love between two souls who were meant to meet no matter how impossible the odds.
I hope you enjoy this passionate, humorous, and heartfelt love story.
With so much love and gratitude,
RR xo
DEAR READERS,
Finally, my sizzling summer love story is launched! July 14th was the lucky day!
I just know you're gonna love this comical, heart-warming story of a man and woman who meet in the most unexpected way.
LOVE WALKED IN ~ a story of hope, of passion, of heart's renewal after loss and abandonment.
After the tragic loss of her husband, Rileigh Rhodes thought she was done loving people. She could not be more wrong. The sweetest elderly couple, George and Maggie Winslow move into her retirement home at Amberlea Gardens, and she falls madly in love.
Ken Winslow never forgot the burn of his wife walking out on him years ago, leaving him with three kids. When he returns to Ontario for the funeral of his mother Maggie, he finds a surprising connection with the big-hearted housekeeper Rileigh, who is both lovely and down to earth.
Neither of them saw it coming, but life somehow brings miracles when you least expect them.
Come along for an adventure of the heart, where life is far from boring at a senior's home, and two broken hearts find a reason to be happy again. From the beauty of Ontario's cottage country with its sultry summer air, to the vast, stunning mountains and landscape of beautiful British Columbia, this love story is sure to steal your heart.
LOVE WALKED IN. The sizzling summer love story of 2021.
Available on Amazon in e-book and paperback!!https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B099C8R119/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Happy reading!!!
Love,
RR xo
Dear Readers,
My heart is bursting with gladness and anticipation for my forthcoming novel "Love Walked In."
This gem was inspired in May 2020 through a beautiful, real-life connection I've experienced. A wonderful soul walked into my life; his parents were residents at the senior's home where I work. Long story short, over a span of 17 months of knowing this beautiful, loving couple (married 64 years), they both passed in early 2020, just two months apart. They couldn't bear to be apart! Sigh....my heart melts thinking of how incredible that love story is. I can only HOPE to find a connection that powerful and steadfast in this life.
I'm writing this epic story tonight, and it's making me feel SO STOKED!!! The electricity between the two main characters is OFF THE CHARTS...and the sweet thing is....it started as a friendship.
LOVE WALKED IN chronicles the story of housekeeper Rileigh Rhodes, whose husband died of a heart attack and broke her heart. Since then, she's thrown herself into her busy life, working hard and filling that empty space with her workmates and her social life, to avoid her pain.
Divorced Ken Winslow is a hero on a Harley; caring for his elderly parents at the senior's home and ensuring they have everything they need. His wife walked out on him years ago, leaving him with three kids, and he raised them successfully, put them through college and helped them leave the nest to find their way in life. Now, he's footloose and fancy-free, money in the bank galore, and not looking for a woman to tie him down, but eager to enjoy his retiree life in the gorgeous Fraser Valley of British Columbia.
Neither of them expected to find one another, living 2,700 miles apart. But when Rileigh Rhodes knocks on the door of room 111 at Amberlea Gardens, Ken is in for the "ride" of a lifetime.
Now, discover how their love unfolds in the most unforgettable way.
Second chance love is so exciting, especially when it comes out of the blue, without warning!
COMING SUMMER 2021... LOVE WALKED IN!!!
Stay passionate, stay safe,
RR xo