Turning 46 with a Gift for Grads – Two Life-Changing Books

Every year on my birthday, I reflect on the gifts life has given me – not the kind wrapped in bows, but the kind wrapped in pain, struggle, and unbreakable purpose.

As I count down to my 46th birthday one week from today, I can’t help but think of how much that day- May 22nd- has shaped me. On my 15th birthday, I got pregnant by someone I didn’t even know. In a single moment, my dreams shattered, my plans crumbled, and everything I thought I knew about life fell apart. Or so I thought. But that same day became the seed for Life After Birth – the book that took my pain and turned it into purpose., my life turned into lessons for others.

Over the years, I’ve met hundreds of students who told me how that book helped them see their own strength – how it reminded them that no matter how dark your beginning or big your challenge, you can still write a powerful ending.

Publishing my memoir, born out of the trauma of my 15th birthday, was also how the entire S.O. What! Movement was born.

Then last year, on that very same day – May 22nd – I symbolically released 100 Lessons My Centenarian Grandmas Taught Me: Two Centuries of Motherly Wisdom and Timeless Advice on Confidence, Resilience, Leadership, and Life.

It was my gift to my grandmothers who I had just lost five days apart, and my gift to the world especially youth to help them honor and respect the wisdom of elders. It’s packed with the unbreakable wisdom of two women who survived nearly a century of hardship, heartbreak, and healing. Their lessons on confidence, resilience, leadership, and life are the kind that can transform a young person’s path – the kind that stick with you long after you close the book.

As I prepare to turn 46 (now wiser and accepting that I’m closer to 50 than 40), I’m reminded of the power of these books – not just as stories, but as lifelines. They’re gifts of survival, strength, and the powerful proof that where you start doesn’t determine where you’ll finish.

If you’re looking for a graduation gift that will do more than sit on a shelf – a gift that will speak life into someone’s darkest days, that will help a young person succeed in college and in life, that will remind them they can rise higher than they ever imagined – these books are that gift.

Both books are available on Amazon:
Life After Birth: A Memoir of Survival and Success as a Teenage Mother
100 Lessons My Centenarian Grandmas Taught Me: Two Centuries of Motherly Wisdom and Timeless Advice on Confidence, Resilience, Leadership, and Life