- February 5, 2025
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Diane Michael accepted her mother’s death nearly 20 years after she died, and it manifested into her first book.
“It was such a labor of love,” she said.
Michael, a Port Orange resident and creative director of Callan Group Communications, was 10 years old when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 37.
Her mother was younger than Michael is today.
Ten years later, her mother lost her battle with breast cancer.
Three days after her mother’s death, Michael became a volunteer for the American Cancer Society.
Volunteering with cancer patients helped Michael cope with her mother’s death, but she said she was only delaying the grief process.
“It was my way of fighting cancer and putting all my anger and denial in my work,” she said.
Eighteen years later, Michael faced her grief.
“I said, ‘Enough is enough,’ because I wasn’t living my healthiest life, and I attributed it to not facing what happened with my mom,” she said.
Michael, a long-time writer, put pen to paper and wrote about her experience from learning about her mother’s diagnosis to watching her fight cancer to when she died.
Reading through the book, titled After Mom – an Insightful Journey to Healing After Death, Michael said she could see her mother’s influence.
“She was with me the whole time,” she said.
Today, she said she has learned to forgive and look back at painful memories with a positive light, and she wants others to do the same.
Michael's book is divided into 11 chapters because she is fascinated by 11:11, which some believe is a sign of good luck.
She said when she glances at the clock and it's 11:11, it's like her mother is saying hello.
Each chapter explores an insight Michael learned when grieving, and readers have the option to do an exercise before moving to the next chapter.
Michael said friends and family have learned from each lesson, and they said they are applicable to any life event.
To continue sharing her insights, she will work through the exercises with a room of people during her Tea Room Tour, named after Michael’s mother’s love of tea.
Michael also will read her book and sign books.
“The goal is healing and keeping the memory alive,” she said. “It will be emotional, but I’ll keep it light.”
Her first stop will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 22 at The Center, 1640 Doctor M.L.K. Blvd., in Deltona.
For more information, visit thecallangrp.com.
