Stories to tell before I forget.

Author’s Note

These stories are not written in order, nor are they meant to be read that way. I write them as I feel them — as they surface, like memories that rise unannounced and ask to be seen. Each one carries a fragment of who I am: an artist, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a dreamer — and above all, a soul learning what it truly means to love. Some stories are about my projects — the children I’ve met through art, the journeys that have taken me around the world, and the healing moments that still echo within me. Others are about my family — my husband, my father, my mother, my brother, my sisters and friends— and the complex love that shaped us all.

There is a harsh lesson hidden inside unconditional love: sometimes it doesn’t look like love at all. It can feel like rejection, silence, or even loss. But in time, I’ve come to understand that this too can be an act of great bravery — a way of releasing someone from certain duties, so that both can be set free.

These stories are my way of tracing those invisible threads — between love and freedom, between pain and purpose, between what we lose and what we carry forward. Together, they form the map of a heart still learning how to forgive, create, and keep believing in beauty, even in the midst of chaos.

Maria Lanas

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