Joy Fortuna

The Mere Lightness of Being Joy Fortuna

In the prequel to this story, the novella And Tari Rises, at fourteen, Tari had charted her whole life (or at least the next fifteen years of it) out in front of her. Her plan - get good grades, earn an academic scholarship (an athletic scholarship was hers for the taking as well), attend medical school at Southern San Diego University, become a physician. And topping her list, joining the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, or Medicine Sans, Frontier (MSF). She had been on the right track. Well on her way. That was, until a day of hanging out with her best friend in the world - something she had done every day since she was three - ended in betrayal and devastation and momentarily left her shattered, disoriented, and feeling slightly derailed. Fast forward. After giving herself a moment - that included going over the deep end a bit but not crashing to rock bottom - Tari identified that she had not been derailed, just temporarily side-tracked. She righted herself and got back on the proper track by surviving until she could reteach herself to live again. She adapted the motto What's done is done. In The Mere Lightness of Being, Tari's plans have come to fruition. Now as a skilled physician, Doctor Tari Delar, is contributing to the cause of MSF. She soon discovers that being in the business of helping people and saving lives requires her to step outside of medicine at times. It also requires that she step in, roll up her sleeves and kick a little butt - both literally and figuratively. She hadn't expected it, but she could live with that. She was grounded in strength and resiliency. She understood that caring for others meant she must care for herself first. She adapted a regiment of meditation, exercise, and a healthy social life with quality down time. She accepted all the gifts life had to give and never took any of those gifts for granted. She paid it forward in abundance. She had a strong respect for fate and being where she was supposed to be at any given time, to receive those gifts. What she also hadn't expected was boxing it out with fate. Tari and fate had gone eleven rounds, with Tari ducking and weaving through every effort on fate's part at connecting her with that special someone. Being preoccupied with her life goals had helped her in every round. But what Tari hadn't expected was the surprise fate had in store for her in round twelve. Love. Unavoidable - in your face - love. The Mere Lightness of Being is a story of life's traumatic events. A story of survival, of lessons learned. A story of moving forward and of what to take with you and what to leave behind in the process...and, it's a love story.