We'll Be Counting Stars 
A LOVE STORY

I was one of the lucky ones. At twenty-three, I had it all: the perfect guy, a career as a TV host, and a little fixer upper. Gregarious and generous, Kory had given me a home, a family, and a reason to dig out of my grief after the tragic death of my nephew. But just two months after we fell in love, a silent, formidable enemy slithered its way into our home. After Kory injured his back helping his grandmother with a home repair, our happily ever after story became happy, little family, meet Vicodin. Vicodin? Destroy.

Ten years and three kids later, we appeared as if we had the perfect, happy family. But the truth was, we’d just lost everything in the recession – our home, my job, and twenty-one people we loved. Lost in endless grief and diaper changes, for years I couldn’t face the truth of Kory’s addiction. Until one morning when I climbed on a chair, looked in our bathroom window from the outside, and saw the truth of Kory’s addiction.
 
That afternoon, I finally asked him to leave because, “When people show you who they are, believe them.” (Maya Angelou)

That night, Kory went to the ATM and took all our money, then he threatened to kidnap our kids from school while he was high, forcing me to file an Order of Protection. Left to recover our lives from the effects of his addiction – madly searching my home for drugs and standing in line at food banks – I was determined to divorce him, even after he’d entered rehab. But then something happened…like it often does, and rock bottom became a launching pad, not a docking station.
 
As Kory and I fought to rebuild our lives separately, an inexplicable force fought to draw us back together. Through twists and turns we could never have imagined, every attempt we made to destroy our marriage drew us back together. Love never gave up on us, even when we gave up on it, and everything we ever wanted arrived on the other side of forgiveness and forty-seven chances.
 
WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS is the story of the always messy, sometimes magical beauty of rebuilding our lives while the old one is still crumbling around us. It’s not just a memoir about addiction – it’s about the risk it takes to love, to lose, to break, and rise again and again. Told with electrifying suspense and honesty, WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS will beckon readers to question the lies we tell ourselves while also speaking to an epidemic of opioid abuse in the U.S. worsened by Covid-19. 2020 was the worst year on record for opioid overdoses and President Biden has pledged $2.5 billion dollars to address this national crisis. With a timely message of how to rise again after any fall, WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS speaks to millions reinventing themselves in the wake of Covid-19.
 
But it’s not just a story about addiction – its about love, overcoming unimaginable betrayal and hurt, and the power of the human spirit to turn tragedy to triumph; to overcome, and rise again.