This afternoon, as I was sitting in a Global Accounting Operations virtual meeting, I nearly spilled my tea all over me hearing our VP of Global Accounting Operations & Treasury, Sir. Anthony Redondo, near the conclusion of his PowerPoint presentation with the words "Many of you know Carmen Kraela, but do you know Carmen A. Cisnadean?" As I watched Anthony pull my book out, while moving to the below slide on page number thirty-four, I caught my breath and froze in awe. I was stunned by the lovely and unanticipated surprise.
I cannot fully express my sincere appreciation to Anthony for his kind and noble gesture today. I will try, however, to illustrate how much it meant to me in a few words. For one, it was like the universe shouted back to me, reinforcing that I am on the right path in continuing to follow my heart and fulfill my publication dreams. An unexpected and sudden shout of appreciation from a person whom I never expected to call out my name about my publishing realizations, all within a global accounting meeting, made my day extraordinary. Sometimes all you need is a word of appreciation from someone who appreciates your work ethic and ambitions, those not only at the workplace but also in your personal life. Those who recognize that we are also humans and treat us as such, reminding us that life is not just labor but also fulfillment, are so worthy of our attention. Anthony's gesture felt more than an honor to be embraced by me but something to be treasured, forever a fond memory imprinted in the pages of my life's story. When these moments so symbolic occur, this is when you take more courage to do bigger and bolder things in life. So, thank you Anthony for your superpower to encourage me in my ambition and dream as author, not something I ever would have imagined possible or dreamed of in a global accounting meeting but so grateful it happened. Great things happen indeed when we least expect them.
This encourages me to share that I am currently writing my third book which will neither be a poetry book nor a children's Christmas story. I live believing that anything is possible in life, when there is great will and stubborn unwillingness to settle for anything less than what we do want out of life. My third book will discuss this and much more. Last but not least, thank you to all those who have read this posting. Should you happen to be someone who does check out my "Her Books" page and purchase one of my books, I hope you enjoy the reading. I also hope that the experience does leave you with some things to contemplate on. The greatest books I have ever read and enjoyed were the ones which have challenged my thinking, opened my eyes to greater horizons, or inspired me to fight for what I want in life regardless of any and every challenge. They are the books which contributed immensely to making me not just a more knowledgeable person but a better person; they challenged me to love deeper, think harder, and live better. I hope my books will have somewhat of the same effect on my readers. Nonetheless, I do also enjoy laughter and my "Velvety Bandit of Whisker-Witty-Whoville," which was both written and illustrated by me, aims to make my readers chuckle out loud. Little surprises are hidden inside my book, like preliminary words which talk about the importance of the humorist and humor in our lives or the last phrase on the very last page in Latin which is a language that isn't dead to me. This last phrase, translated into English means "The bitter truth is better than the sweetest lies." But, of course, your children won't know what those words mean. These words encourage the importance of staying authentic and true to oneself, to all those children which will try to translate the Latin words into meaningful words to them years down the road when they are older and have the patience for such endeavors. Though, I'd never underestimate children. They are capable of extraordinary things. Someone asked me what age range is the book great for. I responded, "ages 5 to105!" See? I made you smile, didn't I? The truth is, we were all children once. This reminds me of my poem "Some Time Ago," poem nr. XXVIII on page 33 of my first book published "A Poetess' First Flight." And because we were children once, there will always be a part of us that is linked to the child spirit within. This is one of the many aspects of our lives which makes human life so incredible and magical.