Betsy married a gentleman, who was a widow with a young child.  She loved her new family, but saw they may need time/space to heal from their loss.  Betsy realized that "love and loss live side by side".  She also lost 3 loved ones, due to suicide.  This taught Betsy that new things can grow even after a loss, such as a more affectionate family.  Her "platinum rule" is to do unto others what they want done.  Betsy also reminds us to:  seek a trusted confidant/advisor, don't try to figure it all out on your own, learn from others, get wiser and read books. Betsy Graziani Fasbinder became a second mother to her first son when she married his widowed dad. Filling Her Shoes: A Memoir of an Inherited Family is a series of snapshots of the moments of becoming a second mother to a little boy whose first had been taken. This is a sweet-bitter, happy-ending story of family, revealing that love and loss, grief and gratitude are not opposites, but co-habitants in any family and that patterns of past family abuse can be broken. Betsy is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Fire & Water, and has been a licensed psychotherapist in California since 1992. tags:  Betsy, Graziani, Fasbinder, betsygrazianifasbinder.com, author, memoir, Filling Her Shoes, A Memoir of an Inherited Family, love, loss, grief, gratitude, Fire & Water, From Page to Stage, psychotherapist, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean