"We never know if this time we say "I love you" will be our last, or the last time we will say it in quite that way. In the next few days I would hear from people all over the world, telling me their stories of their own fathers, of fathers who loved them but couldn't quite say it, or who loved them and had passed away and had been unable to say it for many years. Or, for some, fathers who never showed any sign of love, or even showed evidence of the opposite.
I couldn't have known any of those things, either. Who knows how far a simply love letter will travel? Who knows how far a sky lantern, with a simply phrase of love scrawled on the side, will fly? None of us have any idea.
So we have to keep singing it, keep saying it, keep writing it, keep showing it.
We have to send our live out into the world so others will find it." (pg 49).
In the book Sky Lantern by Matt Mikalatos, a seemingly ordinary event of picking up trash that had blown into his yard, turned into a life changing event when he discovers a sky lantern in his yard with a heart felt love letter inscribed on it by someone only known as Steph. Matt takes readers into the journey of his search to find Steph and convey to her what he believes any father would say to his daughter if he could. Along the way, Matt discovers something about his own love for his three daughters, an unexpected friendship with Steph and more importantly how we can all make an impact in our own world to make things better for someone each day.
"I was sitting at my gate an hour later, thinking about my trip, which had come to an end much faster than I had expected. I had a new friend who lived halfway across the country. Someone I would have never met, would have never known, if not for that lantern crashing in my yard. I had driven through her city many times. She had come to visit Portland, even staying ten miles from my house. It was strange to think that all the so-called strangers around me might be one small act of kindness away from becoming good friends. We have so much in common, all of us. We have lost our loved ones or we will. We have lived, fought, loved, and wanted to be loved. We have cried and laughed, struggled in relationships. We have lit in the darkness with our small flames. It that not enough to build a friendship around?
What if Steph wasn't some amazing friend I had found through a series of inconceivable coincidences or generous providence? What if, instead, it was that every place was full of these potential friends, crowded around us, but we were unable to see them? Could it be that every person sitting around me could be someone who would be my friend, if only I took a few moments? If only I paid attention and gave them my full attention?" (pg 136).
I received Sky Lantern by Matt Mikalatos compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review. This is a book I believe we all need to read because there is some nugget of wisdom for all of us to glean something different from this book. Perhaps its validation that you are worthy, that you have something to offer the world, that you are loved, and most of all to take the time to tell others they are loved, to write letters if you are unable to, or to make a friend in the most unlikeliest of places through divine appointments in your own life. For me this one was well worth a 4.5 out of 5 stars and as you can see, I have shared with you some of those nuggets of wisdom I gleaned to share with you.
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