Guest Post & Giveaway with Tomi Akinyanmi, Author of A Worthy Legacy

Please join me today in welcoming Tomi to Peeking Between the Pages. She is the author of the beautiful and inspirational book A Worthy Legacy which I reviewed here. This book would be a welcome addition to anyone's book shelves or a wonderful gift to give to someone. Let's sit back and relax, have a coffee, and share with Tomi her thoughts on Family...

Family! There is so much for which we can be grateful to our family immediate and extended. Our parents who nurture us and help us learn the difference between right and wrong, our brothers and sisters through whom we learn the values of sharing and the joy it brings, the insufferable aunt who teaches us tolerance, the envious cousins who help us understand that relation by blood does not translate to friendship; and also that friendship isn’t a right but something that is earned. We must not forget the Grandparents who teach us the meaning of unconditional love as well as the nephews and nieces from whom we learn patience.

If we are to be honest with ourselves, for every individual, there is one person or more in the immediate or extended family who you have wished at one point or the other were not related to you for whatever reason. Sometimes it is because they rub you off the wrong way and sometimes because you consider yourself better than them at other times it may be because they are such an embarrassment. Yet, there is no controversy about it that while we can choose or pick who we are friends with, we cannot choose who we are related to. However like the saying “you can’t live with them, you can’t live without them”, the reality of life is that the very reason for you to hate a particular person in your family are the same ones for which you need them in your family.

A family in itself, is a microcosm of the world in which we live, the family prepares us for life. Not merely through our parents providing formal education or buying the food we eat or the clothes we wear. But every individual, every circumstance, every challenge, every joy, every sorrow and every relationship we encounter and share as members of a family, help prepare us for the challenges of life. Perhaps this is why we really cannot choose who we are related to much as we cannot really choose who we end up in class with and who we work with or work for. It is through the myriad family relationships and the complexities they present, that we learn how to live with others in the world, learn how to accept people of a different religion, learn how to respect other peoples values even if we do not share the same, learn how to respect other peoples opinion while not agreeing with them, and learn how to treat the world in which we live with care. We also learn to appreciate life and all it brings our way.

If we take a moment to reflect, we find that while we might not readily appreciate relatives near and far, we do owe a lot to them when it comes to who we have become. Even to the ones we love the least, if we truly would look back we realize just how much we have learned from them. And so to every member of our family young and old, we owe a lot even if we do not realize it and especially if it doesn’t look like it. Thus family relationships are not only to be revered; they ought to be treasured for it is from them that we derive our essence. The very thing that makes us who we are.

Among other things, “A Worthy legacy” describes family relationships in an African village and how a young girl’s relationship with her grandfather impacted her life. In “A Worthy legacy” we see how the love of his family compelled a dying old man on to transfer the lessons he had learned from life and his wealth of wisdom as the only legacy he had to bequeath to the family he leaves behind.

About the Author...

Tomi Akinyanmi discovered her enthusiasm for writing at an early age and has been writing for over twenty years. Though poetry is her first love, Tomi was inspired by personal experiences to create A Worthy Legacy as her first book. Her works include Voices in the Wind, winner of the inaugural Voices Anthology Contest sponsored by The Voices Anthology Network. Some of her poems have also appeared in Free Focus, Northern Stars and Soul Fountain as well as online on poetry websites.

Check out the book trailer...




GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Tomi has very graciously offered up a copy of A Worthy Legacy to one lucky reader. Here's what you need to do to enter:

• For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
• For 2 entries blog/tweet this giveaway.
  

The giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) as Tomi will be sending the book herself. I will draw for the winner on Friday, July 31, 2009. Good luck everyone!