Skiing in Switzerland, she was caught in an avalanche. She survived, but three people 20 feet away from her were killed.
“I had to absorb the deaths of others while at the same time celebrating I was still alive,” she said now. “On that day I realized the crazy, temporary preciousness of life, and vowed never to forget this lesson.”
 Gail Holland of El Granada sits at her writing desk at her home where she wrote her recently published book, "Love Each Day: Live each day so you would want to live it again." |
The memory of that near-fatal incident manifests in her new book, “Love Each Day: Live each day so you would want to live it again” (Modern History Press, 134 pages, paperback, $16.95). Here, Holland put her experience to use by interviewing 40 diverse people, many of them professional contacts, with plans for an uplifting work.
She’d done “serious,” so it was time for change, she said. “I thought it was time to write something more fun, for me and for the readers.”
She asked interviewees to tell her about one day in their lives they would like to live again.
It took time for them to come up with an answer. “I think it was hard for them to choose a day,” she said. “We’re so busy in our lives that we forget.”
But they did come up with examples — and along the way both they and Holland realized something.
“They wanted to come up with a day that really reflected something positive,” she said. In the process, “they reflected more on how good life can be and what makes each day special.”
That’s the whole point of the book, she said. “Too often, we fly through our days without slowing down and realizing it could be a wonderful day,” she said. “(I hope readers) understand they can thoroughly enjoy any day in their life. We need to slow down and think of life in a different way.”
And, she added, to see how each moment reveals the preciousness of life.
Her interviewees represent diverse walks of life, and the stories they told ran a gamut of everyday experiences that, viewed through the lens of special moments in life, make them exceptional.
One chapter profiles the day a professional athlete fell in love. Another examines the moment a former investment banker turned vice president of a corporation for social responsibility and realized, through watching a cow, the impact of humanity on the environment.
Others recount days in the writer’s life, reflections and insights and personal revelations, or small moments with big impacts.
One chapter profiles a day in the life of Coastside tugboat captain Jan Tiura, one of many stories that touched on work. “It was a wonderful reflection that people do enjoy their jobs,” Holland said.
Another chapter looks through the eyes of Half Moon Bay resident Natasha Martin, founder of G.R.A.C.E. USA, which supports AIDS orphans in Africa, on moments connecting with the children.
Holland wrote the stories herself, some in first-person and others in third-person. “It felt better if I wrote them from a professional point of view,” she said.
Holland has two book signings scheduled: one at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15 at Ink Spell Books, 500 Purissima St. in Half Moon Bay (726-6571) and one at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22 at Florey’s Bookstore, 2120 Palmetto Ave. in Pacifica (355-8811).
The book is also available at Bay Book Company in Strawflower Center and through amazon.com.
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