I am a Patchwork Quilt is a compilation of writings of the nouns (names of people, places and things) that touched the life of the author, Ana Maria Ward, formerly an English teacher. While writing her first novel, a biography about her father, Gordon F. Ward, Uncommon Survivor: from Sand to Bronze, the author became inspired with the idea to write about those people who touched her life in the places where she lived from her birth to the present. Although her father was ill, he read some of the first chapters, or patches, and encouraged her to continue with her theme during the final days of his life. He approved the concept of the author as the quilt made up of patches representing everyone involved in her life. Some of them were linked to him. Determined to please her father, the author wanted I am a Patchwork Quilt to be an uplifting experience for her readers. Related to the degrees of separation, each person or patch has a unique relationship to the author and as in life, some with seriousness and some with humor. In reality, every person is unique and relationships are unique. The patches in I Am a Patchwork Quilt are connected to the reader in various amusing ways. The reader may laugh, the reader may cry, but the reader will be moved to find that around the world people will feel warm when magically involved in the blanket of love.
