Caroline Flohr

The Pacific Northwest has been home since birth. The gray skies and wet days, the Cascade Mountains on one side and the Olympics on the other, summers in the San Juan Islands, and every spring, the cherry blossoms lining the University of Washington campus…I love it here.

But when 14 I left home for boarding school in the Ojai Valley where groves of oranges and avocados became my playground. The fragrance of orange blossoms encouraged me to sit and write, the quickly jotted stories providing calm and comfort, like spending a few minutes with a close friend, a good listener.

Math and sciences did come easy but during my junior year when I received a bright red “D” on my Great Gatsby paper, I promised myself that one day I’d write a book. And that’s when the challenge became a passion.

Well, I must confess to the ultimate no-no. After two years in college, I put it on hold for the brilliance of New York City. But the comforts of Ray’s pizza and Grey’s Papaya hotdogs couldn’t sustain me and the gray skies of the Pacific Northwest kept calling me home. So, with twins in tow, it was time to buckle down and finish my engineering degree at the University of Washington.

Much has happened since those early days propped against the trunk of an orange tree with paper and pen in hand. Three children from a first marriage. Two from a second. A beautiful life on an idyllic island in the middle of Puget Sound. And then the unimaginable happened. Little did I know that ultimately my teenage passion would be my survival during that harrowing period.

Published in July 2012, Heaven's Child tells this story of heartbreak, healing, and redemption.

It's a story that's raw and real, a story that makes you cry, feel, and know a new peace within as you travel your own journey.

Today, you’ll find me sitting in some remote parking lot or propped against a large maple tree with my fingers hammering on the keys of my laptop, squeezing in a few last words before hitting the save button and driving children to the next activity. Being a mother is what I do best. Writing about the real morsels of a mother’s daily life keeps life sane.