Lovely In Time (Seasons of Change, #1)

Cally, an English PHD student, does not believe in love at first sight. She believes that when she chooses a mate it will be with her mind. She strongly believes in guarding her heart and holding true to her Christian principles. But when Cally meets the infamous Michael Paige, world renowned movie star, all her noble beliefs do not compare to the way she feels in his arms. Her romantic side tells her to live a little—to explore the wonder of new love, but her logical side tells her that giving into her feelings for Michael will one day leave her with a shattered heart. When she walks away from Michael, she vows that she will shut down these emotions and live her life once again guarding her heart, but on a blustery winter night over a year and a half later, Cally realizes Despair has become her only friend. Determined to exorcise her feelings for Michael, she writes their love story in the form of letters never believing she will send them to him.
When Michael meets Cally, he is instantly captivated. She possesses a certain quality that far surpasses physical beauty. She is an unconventional woman in all regards and within moments of meeting her he sees his match. However, Michael is used to the trappings of fame and the wealth that goes along with it. Jaded and cynical, he does not appreciate Cally's full worth. He loses her out of his own stubborn pride and foolishness, and only after he loses her does he see she means far more to him than any other woman ever did or ever would. He is forced to take an honest look at himself and at his lifestyle. He sees that much of his life is meaningless—a chasing after the wind. He realizes that Hollywood and all his past ambition have led him only to a place of loneliness and emptiness. On his horse ranch in Colorado in a cabin with a full view of the Rocky Mountains, Michael evaluates his life. In his most lonely moments, he writes Cally letters, and through the process of writing, he discovers who he is and what life is all about.

When I was a teenager I had two primary dreams. I wanted to write and publish novels that readers would enjoy and find meaning in, and I wanted to be married with four children—two boys and two girls (in that order). I wanted to stay home and not have them go to babysitters like I had to.
I met my husband the second week of my freshman year. I fell instantly into like when I met him and knew we'd be kindred spirits. As our friendship progressed over six months, I fell in love. We were engaged a few months after we started dating. We married two years later.
For my degree I chose English Literature with a minor in technical writing. I chose technical writing because I thought it would be a practical way to have a career as a writer. I didn't think I was any good at writing fiction, and I wasn't. I had no "grand" idea. I was a fair poetry writer. I loved writing about literature, and I enjoyed technical writing. I sort of planned on that being my career when I finished college, but I lived perpetually in the moment.
We married the summer before our senior year. The first five months of our married life was incredibly romantic. We were students, so we were poor. We lived in a small one-bedroom studio apartment. We had no air conditioning, so the summer nights were quite hot and humid in Wisconsin.
Our car didn't work, so we biked and walked everywhere. On summer evenings my husband loved to watch spiders spinning webs. He would stand their fascinated by the intricate patterns. I stood there fascinated with him. For groceries, we pulled a rickety wagon. We found coupons on campus for free two-liters of pop. Every day we redeemed these coupons for a bit more than a month. We had a lot of free pop to drink, which is kind of funny because neither of us are all that into pop. We would bike to a bakery for day-old bread.
The November after our wedding, we became pregnant with my oldest son. I was sick for months. I made it through finals and then through another semester of class. Living perpetually in the moment helped me adjust to the fact I would be an at-home mom and wouldn't start a career as a technical writer. I was thrilled! But being so young as a mom I was ill-prepared to meet the demands of an infant.
I fulfilled one-fourth of my dream. #1
My husband thought I needed more education. He thought English was a degree in the obvious and that I'd never get a decent paying job with only t...