Trailer Park Tuesday: Magical Journey by Katrina Kenison

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies. Unless their last name is Grisham or King, authors will probably never see their trailers on the big screen at the local cineplex. And that's a shame because a lot of hard work goes into producing these short marriages between book and video. So, if you like what you see, please spread the word and help these videos go viral.




This has been a hard week for our hearts and minds.  Unexpected darkness has shrouded a season which is traditionally bathed in light and joy.  Like many of you, I spent the weekend trying to grasp the un-graspable.  Out of the boil of anger and grief, I kept asking "Why? Why? Why?"  Like a rubber ball striking a hard, impenetrable wall, it kept coming back to me unanswered.  We may never have satisfying resolution to what happened in those classrooms in Newtown.  But I, like so many of you, believe something is bound to change.  Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month, but eventually.  We can only hope.

In the video for her new book, Magical Journey, Katrina Kenison gives us the gift of these words: "You know that loss and sorrow come with the territory, that grief and gratitude walk hand in hand.  Nothing lasts.  And yet, within each ending is the seed of a beginning.  To live is to change endlessly, and sometimes at great cost.  It's okay to melt, to yield, to cry.  Your tears serve a purpose."  Magical Journey is not the sort of book I normally highlight here at the blog, but I found myself returning to this video again and again this weekend, finding solace in its beauty and engaging with Kenison's comforting words.  Her book, which comes out in January, is subtitled "An Apprenticeship in Contentment."  Based on the excerpt found on her Facebook page, I'm looking forward to reading her memoir of "loss, self-discovery, and growth."  The video, a four-minute excerpt from the book, is a series of reflections found in a letter that Kenison wrote to herself--a message from Past Self delivered to the mailbox of Future Self.  In the trailer, Kenison talks about finding inner peace, forgiving herself, and embracing change.  These are all things I needed to hear right now.  I ask you to find four minutes of your day (or eight, if you are inspired to replay it) and spend some time with Katrina Kenison.  May you all find your way through the dark forest of our national grief to this small clearing of hope and contentment.