Garden of Blu

by Misti Blu Day McDermott, Christine Gosch-Echevarria (Contributor), Pamela Bickford (Editor)

Garden of Blu is a memoir about being lost in the dark, living with chronic illness, grief, and depression while discovering self-worth and growing through it all. There is a moment in life where we can make the decision to break generational patterns and bloom, despite our circumstances and roots.

Misti Blu was born with multiple invisible illnesses, which went undiagnosed for most of her life. While struggling with major depressive disorder and PTSD, she was a young mother to her three children. Life was all about trying to survive instead of thriving, with many hopeless days and not feeling good enough. One day she stood in front of the mirror, heartbroken over who she had become. Her focus shifted to self-healing and learning to love herself. She ditched the booze, set goals, and reevaluated her relationships and perspective while navigating through grief and trauma. Some flowers bloom in the dark. Misti shares her vulnerable story and collective writing (starting at the age of 15), hoping to shed light on mental health, self-care, chronic illness, loss, and trauma.

223 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2021

Reviews

[Tim McKeever · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely incredible! It has opened my eyes to introspective views of myself that I may never have come to terms with otherwise. Not only does it offer a great deal of insight into the realm of suffering and coping, but it is diverse and entertaining. Injected with flowing, elegant poetry, some poems beautiful and cryptic, some honest and brazen, along with stories from the authors life so well written that they place the reader squarely in the tumultuous household of her youth, painting such a vivid picture that I found myself, at times, enraged and other times smiling, this book is a true treasure. Everyone should read it. Everyone could stand to learn something from it. Everyone.