MSI Press Blog

  When Betty Shaw’s daughter, Elizabeth Marks, distracted by a text message, was hit by a truck, the world tilted. The crash shattered bones, fractured her skull, and left her fighting for life. Brain surgery. Facial reconstruction. A long, uncertain road back. A potential modeling career derailed. But the heartbreak ran deeper. Elizabeth had been answering a text from her mother when the car struck her. That detail added a layer of guilt to Betty’s grief — a cruel twist that could have silenced her. Instead, it fueled her. One Simple Text… isn’t just a book. It’s a reckoning. A warning. A lifeline. Betty didn’t write it to wallow — she wrote it to wake people up. Her daughter’s story became a movement: more than a million views on social media, an invitation to the Oprah Winfrey Show, and a ripple effect that continues to save lives. This is what maternal resilience looks like: not just surviving the unimaginable, but transforming it into testimony. Betty Shaw turned guilt in...

  I never imagined that the end of such relentless days could feel like both a surrender and a liberation. For months, my world had been a blur of urgent calls, sleepless nights, and a relentless schedule—caring for adult disabled children living at home and independently but in need of support, running a business, and tending to Carl’s ever-growing needs as he battled cancer of unknown primary (CUP). Each day was a race against time: rushing to change his diapers, lifting him from his chair to the bed in the hoyer, and dashing to the pharmacy at a minute’s notice when a new symptom flared up. The demands were ceaseless, and the emotional toll was immeasurable. When Carl finally passed, I expected to grieve. Instead, I found myself caught in an unexpected and painful paradox: relief. There was an undeniable sense of release, a pause to the endless treadmill of caregiving that had consumed every waking moment of my life and more often than not, half of my night, with sleep deprivati...

  BOREDOM “Behold, I am making all things new.” --Revelations 21: 5   We often use slogans to guide us through life’s complexity. I recently learned two slogans popular among young people today. YOLO: “You only live once.” It proclaims that we have only this one precious and wild life. So, we must make the most of it. This maxim reiterates the ancient wisdom, “Life is short.” Take advantage of our allotted time. A second piece of complimentary guidance is FOMO: “Fear of missing out.” There is a sense of urgency to fill our brief time here with stimulating activities. We want to cram as many experiences as possible in our available time. Only then can we feel satisfied and happy. We Americans assume that a fast-moving, active life is a fulfilled life. “An idle mind is the workshop of the devil,” a time-honored epithet reminds us. A boring life is a useless one. We want to do as much as we can as quickly as we can. Our goal is to be productive and efficient. We confess...