Have you ever read Simple Abundance?  It is a lifestyle book, directed at women and seriously?  It can be life changing.  I read it about 15 years ago when it first came out.  Since it was a gift from my mother I assumed the book would be terribly preachy so I avoided it at first and gave it a home in the bathroom.  The one page chapters, one assigned for each day of the year seemed perfect for bathroom reading and one day I finally picked it up. 

I still remember the day.  It was October 9th, and the title of the chapter was “Coping with Stress.”  It was 15 days before my dreaded 30th birthday and several months after I had ended a five year relationship.  I was a giant ball of anxiety (thus the constipation) and totally needed to read that chapter. 

From that day on I was sold.  I moved the book from the bathroom to my living room and read a chapter every morning while drinking my coffee.   I learned about the six principles of Simple Abundance: gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy.  I learned how to weave these principles into my daily life and as promised I became a happier person.  It was a turning point.  And the author of the book, Sarah Ban Breathnach became my imaginary best friend. 

Sarah got me to start a gratitude journal where I listed five things I was grateful for each day.  She taught me that focusing on what was lacking in my life would get me nowhere.  I had to accept my life circumstances, which at the time was a depressed single woman who lived alone in a crappy apartment in Hayward, and appreciate the fact that things could have been a lot worse.  She helped me experience joy in everyday activities like the first sip of coffee in the morning, walking to the Bart station and depositing my paycheck.  She helped me feel grateful for my friends and family.  Suddenly being single didn’t seem all that bad.  And the crappy apartment…well at least it was close to Bart and the rent was cheap.  And once the crack house across the street got fixed up by the new owner the neighborhood wasn’t nearly as scary as before. 

I loved Sarah and I loved the book she wrote.  I was thrilled when I found out she wrote another book until I saw the title.  Sarah’s next book was called Something More.  I was confused as hell.  Something More?  How could she?  What happened to being grateful for what you had?  What happened to accepting your circumstances? 

My instincts where correct.  Something More was not a very good book.  It seemed to be written by someone who was suddenly very unsatisfied with their life.  What was that all about?  I didn’t even finish it.  I was so disappointed.  Sarah wrote subsequent books, all of which were equally disappointing and according to the Amazon reviews not just to me.  She also started a website.  A website you had to pay $75 a year to see!  What best-selling author makes her readers pay to join her website?  My hero, Sarah Ban Breathnach let me down. 

A few years later I picked up another one of Sarah’s books.  This one was a memoir called Moving On.  In it Sarah confessed that after the windfall success of Simple Abundance her marriage failed, she became quite the spendthrift and much of the money she made selling her books was gone.  In reading Moving On, I got the feeling that Sarah became a little too focused on the Simple Abundance principle of beauty and threw the remaining five out the window.  It was understandable I suppose.  Even though it may be a secret fantasy for many of us, being an overnight success with instant piles of money is probably not the easiest thing in the world to deal with.  One minute you are a typical working mom and the next day people are recognizing you in the grocery store and Oprah is telling the world to read your books. 

Having a hero let you down can be a good thing.  It helps remind us that we are all human, even our heroes.  I may have given up on Sarah as my imaginary BFF but I still haven’t given up on her original book.  The wisdom in Simple Abundance is still as powerful as ever and I still read it 15 years later and also recommend it to anyone I can. 

So if you haven’t yet read Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach, I highly recommend you do!  Just don’t get attached to the author. 

I am from a dial phone that hung on the kitchen wall and television with only four channels, from Gee You Hair Smells Terrific, Dittos and a 1967 white Volkswagen square-back. 

I am from fake vinyl paneling in every single room, green shag carpet and knick-knacks, swamp coolers and an antique grandfather clock, where the quarry sounds of dump trucks carried through open windows on warm summer nights and it didn’t feel like Saturday unless the garage door was open and the hood of a car was up. 

I am from hummingbirds drinking sugar water from the feeder outside Grandma’s kitchen window, Eucalyptus trees that lose branches on the neighbors lawn in rainstorms and brothers who are obsessed with catching lizards. 

I am from crawling into bed with Grandma and Grandpa, bacon and eggs on Saturday morning and getting to choose dinner on your birthday.  I am from talking loud and blue eyes, from Butch, Hetty and Harl, Bob and Mary and Fritzie. 

I am from the table where every single person orders blue cheese dressing on their salad.  I am from a strong work ethic, drinking to relieve the strong work ethic and anxiety attacks. 

From don’t do a half-assed job, be kind to one another, go to your room and I love you.

I am from the Catholic church where going to confession is rewarded with chocolate dipped cones from Dairy Queen, the blessed mother is the most women will get and no birth control…seriously? 

I’m from California, New York and Switzerland, from steak and tater tots, blueberry pancakes, stollen and coffee-milk. 

From making spaghetti sauce handprints on newly painted white walls with my best friend Lisa, from Harlan and John setting a field on fire, from Dad putting water on the slide and Mom’s reading at church about the Severe Salmon.  

I am from photo albums carefully preserved by Grandma and Mom, Franciscan Apple china in an antique breakfront, Grandpa’s chiming ship’s clock which really must be fixed and Grandma Teetsel’s wedding ring which now resides and will stay on my left hand. 

Thank you Adam Avitable for the idea and the prompt!