The book giveaway was an amazing success. More than 18,000 e-books given away in a 24-hour period. Since then, people have also been buying the book, enough so that for a brief, dizzying moment, RAISING ABEL was Number 10 on the Amazon bestseller list. It's settled back a bit since then, but still going pretty strong.
I'm not sure how to tell you all what this means to me. Having kept my story hidden for years--even, really, from myself--it's incredibly validating to have received the response I have on this blog and for the book. I used to be so ashamed of my status as "the world's oldest virgin." It was mortifying to be asked by people, Are you married? Have you ever been married? Oh, so did you live with someone... How to explain that I wanted so badly to be in a relationship, but I just couldn't, and I believed for SO long that it was because I was weird and unlovable.
And, to have the praise come in for Abel, for his strength and his courage to work through what he has. He is a hero. He has to fight demons every day of his life and he succeeds. Case in point: yesterday, Jacob had a friend over. They were using Abel's IPod to make silly videos. At some point, they decided that it would be a good idea to throw it around. Yes, I know, but they're six. It smashed on something and Jacob came in to tell me about it (very proud of him for doing that) and when I said, That was a very bad decision, he burst into tears.
"You have to tell Abel," I said.
"Noooo," he wailed, "he'll be mad!"
"Even so, you need to tell him what happened."
We went upstairs, Jacob sobbing, his little friend following timidly behind.
"Why are you crying?" Abel asked.
I showed him the broken IPod.
"Jacob, come here. I'm not mad. Just tell me what happened," Abel said.
Jacob sobbed out the story.
Abel put his arm around him. "Well that was really stupid," he said. "Why did you think it would be a good idea to throw it?"
Jacob shrugged, sniffling.
"Okay, don't do it again."
"Okay," said Jacob.
And that was it.
Jacob will do some chores to pay for a new glass screen on the IPod.
I'm so proud of both of them.
