About the Characters in "Perched in Our Heart"

Real experiences and names of people were included in my story. Have you read the book? 

If yes, did you notice? 

• In my story, Johnny was the younger brother and our grown-up friend who came to visit us. He was the first to see mama hummingbird building her nest. 

• I used my son’s name Justin, as the older brother in my story. My son, Justin Ashbridge, is caring, loving, inquisitive, a researcher, and now a grown-up man, but I had to include his essence and his character in my story. He was interested in our bird family too. He helped provide the birds’ original names.

• The birds had different names when they joined our family on our back porch. We named the mama bird Aquarius and the baby bird Jagger. Your parents or grandparents may know those names, but I renamed them to match the character and behaviors of our feathered friends. My husband Drew thought we should keep their first names. I secretly did too.

• Grandpa was the face of a special neighbor of my mother and father-in-law, Fran Tranbarger, who died as the story was being written. My illustrator took his picture as an inspiration and we paid tribute to him to honor his life as an incredibly kind, caring man, who was a great dad, grandpa, husband, neighbor and friend. Ev, his wife gave us permission to honor him in this way.

• Mom and Dad represented all parents who have experienced a child loss. Perhaps it may be you, and I hope this book becomes a family read-aloud book for you, your children, and your extended family.

• There were two eggs at the beginning of the story. One egg did not survive. That egg represents all babies that did not survive but are loved and always remembered. 

• Mayzie was a real little girl, and this book is dedicated to her. The heart-shaped chime medallion is shown at the end of the story. My artist and dear friend, Lynn Byrn replicated the face from an actual necklace of Mayzie’s mom, and she wears it close to her heart. 

• My father-in-law, Richard William Ashbridge. . died on April 28, 2024, as I was making many revisions to this book. He was one of my biggest encouragers. Every time we talked, he would ask me how it was coming. Interestingly, there are two hummingbirds that flutter outside my front window every day and I feel like it is my mother and father-in-law reminding me of their love and support.