Five years after her divorce, writer Page Lambert says she has fallen in love again with a wonderful man and it all started with a charitable donation request….
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I kept getting these wonderful solicitations in the mail to donate to the American Indian College Fund. I didn’t have any extra money to send their way but it occurred to me that if there were 32 tribal colleges, there had to be 32 tribal college libraries. So I called my publishers and asked them if they would be willing to donate hardback copies of my books and they said they thought it was a fabulous idea. Then I called the fund and explained what I wanted to do.
They put me in touch with John Gritts and we ended up with a business/professional relationship for a couple of years. Then we became closer friends and it transformed into a romantic relationship.
We found out we had so much in common. We both raised our children in the Black Hills. For 23 years he lived only 30 miles from my ranch – we didn’t know each other then. We also found out that both our great-grandparents were from Stillwater, Oklahoma. We enrich each other’s life.
He’s learned about the literary world. He’s met all my writing friends and gone to conferences where I’ve been speaking and he’s read more books than he’s ever read. John is an artist and I’ve learned so much about the art world. I’ve had some wonderfully rich experiences through the AICF and through his connection with the Institute for American Indian Arts – we’ve gone to galas in New York. His art is what took us to Sante Fe for 18 months.
If you ask yourself, is this a good decision to make? I think one of the litmus tests is, will it make your world larger or smaller? If it’s making your world larger, then it’s usually a good decision. For me, rather than seeing my world get smaller after my divorce, my world has gotten larger and John is a big part of that.
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Page Lambert is a writer with a gift for nature and the western landscape. She mentors people who want to creatively connect more deeply with the natural world. Page facilitates outdoor creative adventures and in 2006, Oprah’s O Magazine featured Page’s ‘River Writing Journeys for Women’ as one of the top six great all-girl getaways of the year.
Page shared a story, “These things I can love” in a guest post recently. It’s an extract from a narrative non-fiction she’s working. You can read more about Page and her work at her website and at her blog.