Around The Table – Diana Henry

I was defensive at every turn, with my mother suggesting what I needed to do and who I needed in my life. Finally, I did what I knew best and blocked my pain by finding an escape; I began seeking the fantastical love of my life again. And, while standing in a bar one night with my friend, I took a sip of my drink and glanced to the right.

There he was—a beautiful specimen of a man who made my heart race. He was of Swedish descent and gorgeous: tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and very charismatic. I dated him for about six months, and what felt like adoration for me was something I had never experienced before. He wined and dined me and treated me like a prized possession, often inviting me to his apartment, putting candles and music on.

Everything seemed genuine, slow, and intentional. I believed he loved me, although he never told me so, and I would never have said that first—women don’t do that. We didn’t go out with other couples, and I just thought I was unique, and he wanted me all to himself. When I invited him to my sister’s wedding, he agreed, and I had the best time, dancing and singing with all my Dutch relatives while he stood back watching.

He smiled when I looked over at him, but I sensed something was off. A big red flag appeared when someone lifted their camera, and he refused to have his picture taken. I understood his hesitancy to join the family group photos, thinking he likely felt awkward having just met my relatives.

But he also declined having our picture taken as a couple. My stomach did its usual flip, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I began digging. It was 1982, and there was still no social media on the horizon, so I did what we did back then and started mentioning him to people I knew.

Then one day, I happened to be chatting with some friends, and I told them about my boyfriend. One of them looked me square in the eye and said, I know him; you know he’s married, right?! Uh, no!! I thought my uterus would fall out of my vagina, and I ran to the washroom and got sick in the toilet.

Cleaning my face, I looked in the mirror and stared at each of the features I so abhorred: my squinty eyes, my endless nose, and that large mouth. But as much as I still believed they had caused me grief, I refused to deceive them this time.

Diana Reyers’ book, “Around the Table: Escaping the Cycle of Insanity” is a tribute to the determination and self-awareness that was required of her in order to navigate, heal, and eventually, overcome deeply complex familial rituals and relationships. It is a must read, particularly for daughters with the desire to understand difficult relationships they have with their parents and grandparents, as well as the cultural and religious upbringings that they may be questioning in order to step fully into who they are, and not who others want them to be.

Tana L. Heminsley, Author Awaken Your Authentic Leadership—and adaptations & Ease Amidst Challenging Times Growing up a child of the early ‘70s, the poignant way that Diana writes her memoir insights familiar passages of hierarchy, protocols, and generational dynamics. I was transported through her words to a place where I was a benefactor of her experience—a voyeur of life with her family. It’s hard to explain, which is why I believe you need to read this offering, the feelings that arose, leaning into a young Diana’s thought processes.

What starts with a literal lesson over ‘spilt milk’, soon sets the stage for a figurative measuring stick as to her place then, and now, in the world. The renderings of her soul unfold as she invites you to reconcile with her, her belief systems, her dynamic translations, and her softened approach to relationships that developed through her childhood and on into her own family dynamics. Diana is the fresh take on ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’, perhaps readily accepted as a new version like ‘Bone Broth for the Brain’ in as much as it is no longer enough to wish and feel good, but rather, do the shadow work and heal.

She takes you to a depth and back again that personifies ‘doing the work’. Thank you, Diana, for once again highlighting authenticity and prescribing it for us all. Candace Chisholm, Bestselling Co-Author, She Changed Me: One Ordeal; Two Perspectives CEO and Co-Founder of He Changed It and She Changed It, mobile apps for health and wellness prevention. 1kitap1.com/en 1kitap1.com/en Daring to Share Global Published by Daring to Share Global™ April 2022 ISBN: 9781777548223 ISBN: 9781777548247 (e-book) Copyright © 2022 by Diana Reyers All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted , in any form, or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: a3c6b4de46203134
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,240,166 bytes (3.09 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781777548223, 9781777548247
• Pages: 305
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 665.33 minutes
• Total Words: 133,065
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• Average Words per Page: 436.28
• Average Characters per Page: 2392.88

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