You raised the kids. You built the life. And now the kids are grown, the house is quiet, and you don't know who you are in it.
What if finding your way home to yourself begins with a journey you never expected to take?
Step aboard the Golden Harmony and follow a fictional voyage through five mysterious islands, each revealing a gift that can help you rediscover who you are, what you've learned, and what might be waiting for you next.
Gifts: A Voyage Home to Yourself is more than a story. It's an invitation to see your own life differently and discover the wisdom and possibility that may have been there all along.
The Ordinary Moment That Rewrote My Life
THE MESSY MIDDLE: Elaine's Story
What No One Tells You About Healing After Serious Injury
After they saved my leg...
The Messy Middle is the story of the eight months that followed.
On an ordinary October evening, I stood up from the sofa, took one step toward the kitchen, and fell.
What followed was a ten-hour surgery to save my leg, a severed artery, a drug-resistant infection, and a recovery that became far more complicated than I ever imagined.
This is not a polished story of recovery told from the other side. It's about what it feels like to live inside the uncertainty, frustration, humor, and unexpected moments of healing.
LISTEN FREE to one of the stories inside the book.
Chapter 13 Chicken Wings (audio)
When Elaine found herself struggling to walk after a devastating fall, she never expected a forgotten jar of mayonnaise to lead to one of the most surprising breakthroughs of her recovery.
Listen to this unforgettable story from The Messy Middle, narrated by Elaine Lombardi.
Sometimes you have to look a little ridiculous before you figure something out.
<- LISTEN FREE to Chapter 13 Chicken Wings from The Messy Middle, narrated by Elaine Lombardi.
A Note from Elaine
I didn't arrive at this work through one dramatic moment. I spent years raising four children, building businesses, and caring for my mother, and the whole time, I overlooked my own potential.
Along the way, I was a teacher, a director of education, and eventually a health coach, always drawn to the same question, just wearing different clothes: how do we actually change, and what does it take to help someone else do it?
It took me a long time to see all of it as connected. One mission, underneath everything, ties it all together: to help people discover the gifts they've been given, live with purpose, and create a life that matters.
I'm a mother of four, a grandmother of ten, and a great-grandmother of two, married more than fifty years to the same man who's watched every version of me become this one.
Read the Book
Come sail through the five islands yourself, one chapter at a time.
Go Deeper
The GIFTS Method is the framework underneath the story, for whenever you’re ready.
Bring Me to Your Podcast or Event
I’d love to bring my stories to your podcast, group, retreat, or event.