Connections

This memoir begins with a brief description of the author's life detailing the connection to music that she shared with her sister Maureen. Throughout their difficult childhood, they had shared a common bond in their love of music and this connection continued long after she had left the UK and begun travelling the world. When she received the news of her sister's illness, there was an initial slide into despair, then she decided to run the London Marathon to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research. Training in the tropical conditions in Thailand was not easy but the author eventually ran the race successfully. Later races were undertaken and donations were made to the Myelin Project (made famous by Augusto Odone – and detailed in the film: 'Lorenzo's Oil').

However, nothing could alter her sister's fate and when Maureen died, the author stepped off the music tracks and lost herself completely in the dark maze of grief. Within four months, her aunt died and then her father. Shortly afterwards, during a 500-mile trek: Santiago de Compostela (commonly known as 'The Camino'), as she was attempting to walk into oblivion, she experienced the astounding power of music to transcend her grief and re-connect her with her sister and her own life. When her brother-in-law and her mother died, just four years later, the author embarked on her second Camino and was provided with yet more proof of the healing power of music and its positive affirmation of life. The story is peppered with music tracks and these are listed at the end, together with mention of some of music's other therapeutic effects.

Author_Bio: Though born in the UK, Jennifer Dixon has lived elsewhere for most of her adult life. Nonetheless, she is still proud of her Geordie roots. Currently living in Canberra as an Australian with a strange accent, Jennifer is married and has two grown-up children. She has worked in France, Germany and Italy. She has also lived in Spain, Nepal, Thailand, Zimbabwe and Mexico. Jennifer has a degree in Sociology and a diploma in Counselling Theories and Skills and has worked variously in several bi-lingual secretarial positions within Europe, as a Court Reporter, and as an Administrative Assistant in Social Services (UK). She earned a Black Belt in judo at nineteen; has walked the 500-mile Camino (Santiago de Compostela), in Spain, twice; plays the guitar, dabbles in painting; adores languages and etymology; is very attracted to the culinary arts; cannot live without abundant laughter and, regards music as a miraculous and indispensable gift of the universe. 'Connections' is the first book she wrote.

Keywords: Music, Life-force, Connections, Poetry, Travel, Grief, Walking, Re-evaluating, Dreams, Revelations, Thermodynamics, Re-connection, Healing