READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 9 March 2014 | Page 20

A Scottish Tale
By: Anna Renault
This month's story is in honor
of St. Patrick. Let me tell you
my surprising Scottish tale!
Why Scottish? What's the
connection between Scotland
and St. Patrick?
As you may know, St. Patrick is
well known for his work in
Ireland. However, Patrick was
born around 385 in Scotland.
At the age of 14, he was
captured in Scotland and
taken to Ireland… the rest is
history. So in honor of his true
Scottish nationality, I have
chosen to tell my amazing and
surprising connection with
Scotland!
Early in 2013, due to a medical
situation, I was on bed rest for
several months. During that
time, I wrote several children's
books including, “Why did my
dad get cancer?” The story is
based on my experience with
cancer when my daughter was
only seven. During my
appointments – diagnosis,
surgery and treatments, my
daughter asked dozens of
questions. Following my
surgery, I experienced a

couple of hemorrhages that
resulted in more hospital visits
and another surgery. Again,
my daughter asked many
questions. She truly didn't
understand what was wrong.
“Why did my dad get cancer?”
in my opinion needed some
pictures – some illustrations.
It was a blessing to me that
another author in Maryland
had also written a children's
book that was illustrated by a
very talented artist, John
Morris. I connected with John
and as the saying goes, the
rest is history!
Thanks to technology,
specifically the internet and
social media, I was able to
connect with John Morris,
who is founder and owner of
“Art From The Heart” (Afth). And
yes, John is the hero of my
Scottish Tale. John Morris lives
in Ayr, Scotland. We
connected on Facebook and
communicated by email. I
forwarded my manuscript to
John in mid-January 2013.
John responded with the first
four illustrations for the book.
Then over the next couple of
months we got to be friends,
chatting on Facebook despite
the six hour difference and
4,000+ miles that separated
us. The book published on
April 1, 2013.
It was fun seeing the
illustrations John created for
the book. He was easy to work

with when I suggested
changes. Time seemed to fly
by as we worked together,
chatting on Facebook,
especially about John's big
desire to visit the United
States. He has a great love of
John Denver music and a lifelong yearning to see the Rocky
Mountains. And so the plot
thickens.
As John made arrangements
to visit a friend in Nebraska, to
spend a week in Denver,
Colorado for a visit to the
Rocky Mountains, plans were
also hatched for John to visit
Maryland to help promote Art
From The Heart, “Why did my
dad get cancer?” and several
other books that John
illustrated for other authors in
Maryland. The plan was
awesome!
The plan netted John a three
week visit to Maryland that
eventually included traveling
over 1500 miles throughout
the state. It was arranged that
John stayed at my home
during his visit – allowing the
visit to be extended from 8
days to 20 days. I truly felt like
I had gained another
grandson.
I truly feel blessed to have
connected with such a
talented young man who also
has a strong love for the Lord.
John has a great desire to
preach the word of the Lord
and thus arrangements were