I’m really excited to have Mikala Jacobson, heroine from Six Months by Mona Sedrak, here with us today. She agreed to sit down with me for an interview. Please give her a warm welcome. Mikala, tell us about yourself.
My name is Mikala Jacobson. Several years ago, when I started writing in my diary, I never thought the day would come my story would ever be read by others. I can’t believe I am being interviewed. Rena, my best friend, says everyone will want to read my story because not only is it unique, but I survived the un-survivable. All I can say is this. I was like many women––deliriously happy with an amazing husband of ten years and the sweetest five-year-old little girl anyone has ever seen. Molly, my little butterfly, and my husband, David, were my definition of perfection.
I had a great career as an attorney, but I put it on hold to be a mom, and I am glad I did, because all my joy was gone––wiped away––in a blink of an eye. In a heartbeat, I lost everything I lived for. I wanted to die. I begged God to take me, but he had other plans. My best friends, Jake and Rena, saved my life, and every six months, my life took a turn, most of the time, for the better, until I healed. I learned many things I believed about my life were not true. I had to learn to forgive and rebuild myself and my life from scratch. I survived and thrived, and the most amazing thing happened. I found love again!
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
All I need to be happy is the love and support of a good man who wants to build a family with me and who understands how precious and fragile life is. I’ve lost so much already, everything I have ever wanted and dreamed of is gone. Having a life partner, children, and good friends who I consider part of my family is all I need to be perfectly happy. Money and material things mean nothing to me. Love holds families together, and love is what I value the most.
What is your greatest fear?
What I fear the most has already happened, and now I’m rebuilding my life. What I fear now is actually being successful––rebuilding it and losing everyone I hold dear once more. I don’t think I could survive my world being ripped apart once again.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty! I’ve been lied to and deceived. I can tell you lies rip lives apart and can be so damaging. Relationships are built on love, trust, and honesty. When you are lied to, it is hard to keep love and trust in the equation. Even small white lies, or lies said to protect a loved one, can have a tragic effect.
Which living person do you most admire?
I would have to say my best friend, Rena, is the person I admire the most. She has survived the most difficult of childhoods and is an amazing woman. She is loyal, strong, honest, and compassionate. She has been by my side from the very beginning and never left me for a second, no matter what I said or did. She is the strongest woman I know. She would probably say the same thing about me, but don’t believe her. I couldn’t have survived walking on coals through fire and come out the other side without her.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Plain and simple––I’m a survivor. I have been through hell and back, and still, I stand. Surviving didn’t just miraculously happen overnight. I had to go on a long journey of self-discovery and forgiveness. I experienced so much loss and pain beyond anything any human should have to face. But I did the work, accepted help, and learned good people make terrible mistakes. I’ve learned to forgive others and myself and have found a new love.
What is your most treasured possession?
My daughter Molly’s baby book. The book is really a journal of letters I wrote to her from the day I found out I was pregnant to the good-bye letter I wrote her. She was a beautiful, inquisitive child who always wanted me to read her the letters I wrote. I told her the time hadn’t come yet. Then, she was gone. The only letter I ever read to her was the final one which I read over her gravestone. It took me years to write it, but I am glad I did.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
How can I explain to you the pain of losing a child? Only someone who has had a child and has lost one themselves can truly understand. Any loss is terrible, but when you lose a child suddenly and without any warning or explanation, you dive so deep into misery, you simply cannot see beyond the pain. I didn’t want help. I didn’t want to survive my Molly, but that is not what she wanted for me. So, although she was gone, she was still with me––in my heart and in my dreams. She wouldn’t let me lose myself in misery. She insisted I survive, thrive, and learn to love again.
What is your most marked characteristic?
I love with my whole heart. My friends and family are my life. When I love someone, I give them a part of myself, forever. Perhaps, some people would say I am gullible, I trust too much, and I give too much of myself away, but I am who I am. Despite all that has happened to me, I believe that good people exist. I believe in love and forgiveness. Do not mistaken my big, forgiving heart for weakness because I am a strong, capable woman who is able to reinvent herself completely.
What is your greatest regret?
We all have regrets, and I am no different. I wish I had been more present in my marriage. I knew David was struggling, but I didn’t do enough to help him. I know people who are in my life don’t agree, but I will always wonder if there was more I could have done to help him with the tremendous stress he carried. Perhaps if I had, our lives would have turned out differently. I regret he felt he had to do what he did. I regret he felt alone and hopeless, but I also understand he made his own decisions, and he is responsible for his own actions. The problem is, his decisions and actions didn’t just affect him.
Title: Six Months
Author: Mona Sedrak
Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Mainstream
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb:
For twenty years, Mikala Jacobson had it all: loyal friends, a precious little girl, and a man who adores her. Then double tragedy strikes and her perfect world shatters. Good friends, Rena and Jake are instantly by her side, protecting her from her husband David’s sordid secret life and his final drunken confession.
With their help, Mikala finds strength to rebuild and redefine her life. As her spirit and heart heal, she not only finds closure, but the beauty of a new love built upon an old friendship.
Excerpt:
Mikala raised her gaze to the heavens and raged. “Why? Why? Why?” With every word, she slammed her palms into the frozen earth. “Why did you have to steal my child? Why didn’t you just take me? Why did you give her to me only to reclaim her a few short years later? She was a baby. She hadn’t had a chance to live yet.” Sobbing, Mikala doubled over, her body wracked with pain. “Please, just take me to be with her. I can’t do this anymore on my own. I don’t want to. Please have mercy.”
Mikala could beg all she wanted, but no one was listening. Her little butterfly had flown to heaven six months ago. Never again would Mikala wake up to the melody of her sweet giggles or revel in the warmth of her tiny body as it settled against her own. Mikala couldn’t caress Molly’s pudgy cheeks, tickle behind her ears, or inhale her fresh little-girl scent after a bath. She couldn’t tangle her fingers through her wild mane of curls or get lost in those bottomless blue eyes that stopped most people in their tracks with their unusual color and their ability to see right through them.
Worst of all, Mikala didn’t know who she was. No longer was she a mother. She would never hear the word Mama coming from her daughter’s bow-shaped lips, giving meaning and worth to her life. Without her child, and without that title, Mikala was no one––no one special.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://goo.gl/gRmsMr
The Wild Rose Press: https://goo.gl/1emrMC
iBooks: https://goo.gl/yD7qfX
Giveaway:
Runs February 1 - 28 and is open internationally.
Winner will be drawn March 1, 2019.
Author Biography
Mona Sedrak lives a double life. By day, she is a suit-wearing, prim and proper, professor, administrator, researcher, and lecturer. By night, she is a PJ wearing dreamer and writer of books that make people sigh, smile, cry, laugh, and fall in love. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-two years, a cranky, geriatric maltipoo, and an obnoxious Amazon parrot who runs the house and terrifies its inhabitants.
Mona discovered the joy and escapism that comes from reading at the age of twelve and swears books saved her life and her sanity. Through reading, she has travelled the globe and learned all kinds of equally useful and useless skills such as: crocheting, the proper way to eat a pomegranate, carve a watermelon, or bathe an elephant. These skills she has passed down to her two daughters who are incredibly supportive, but often wish she had a wider scope of hobbies.
Mona has a long publishing history in academia, but she started writing fiction recently.
Social Media Links
Website http://www.monasedrak.com
Twitter: @AuthorMSedrak
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormonasedrak/