Focusing on unconditional love
By Tatiana Ambrosio
Staff Writer
On February 5, area author, Sherry Collier Larkin donated two of her books to the Fuller Elementary library at a dedication ceremony. Larkin is not a resident of Aubrey, but she has grown a special relationship with Aubrey.
Sherry started visiting Aubrey as part of her job as a Regional Sales Marketing Rep with Community Med Urgent Care when their Cross Roads location opened.
“When we open a clinic, I spread the word and nurture the clinic by getting involved in the community,” she explained. However, when she continued to open and nurture other clinics in other communities, she continued to stay connected to Aubrey in a special way.
She became great friends with longtime Aubrey resident Deborah Goin; Kathy Ramsey, the library director for the Aubrey area; and Donna Sims of the Aubrey 380 Area Chamber of Commerce.
“I know what it is, it’s the people; I just love Aubrey,” Larkin said. “My dream is to ultimately build and buy a house there in Aubrey.”
Through the 380 Rotary Club, Larkin met Kari Abrams, the principal at Fuller Elementary School. Abrams told Larkin the school would love to have her books in their library.
Larkin is also planning to donate books to Monaco and Brockett, the two other elementary schools in the school district.
Abrams also invited her to participate in Career Day if it happens this school year.
During the book dedication on Feb. 5, Larkin shared about her vision and reason for writing the books.
Larkin originally had the idea of writing children’s books in 2016, but life got in the way. Later in a meeting with a life coach, she was spurred to actually start writing them.
When she had completed them, she met a publisher who lived in Flower Mound who connected her with Christian Books Services, a publisher in Franklin, Tennessee. Her first book was published in 2019, followed by the second in the series, published in 2020.
According to Larkin’s website, readers of the book will, “meet the Louisville Slothers, a struggling middle school softball team, who desperately needs coaching on how to love. Their coach isn’t just any coach. She’s a little dog with a BIG dream! Coach Gracie is going to teach about unconditional love and how to WIN when we put Christ first.”
Gracie the pug was modeled after Larkin’s own real pug that passed away in 2018 after 15-plus years with her.
“[Gracie was] truly a comfort dog for 3 years solid in a hard time in my life,” she said.
After this time, she started recognizing that a lot of other people, especially young people “were searching for love in all the wrong places” like she had been.
She even knew a 5-year-old family member that was already having body image issues.
“I just saw so many people hurting and so focused on what everybody else thought, so the thought came into my head, ‘What if we just started loving people like our dogs love us? They love you no matter what. They’re always happy to see you. They don’t hold anything back. They’re loyal, they’re content just being with you and living in the moment.’”
Larkin wrote the book for elementary ages to try to reach kids before they go into middle school “where they are exposed to a lot of peer pressure,” she said.
She hopes they will be inspired by her book to love themselves and each other unconditionally before they enter those critical times of life.
Larkin is also going to donate audio versions of her books to the library as well. The audio books are narrated by different actors. The nine kids on the softball team’s voices were recorded by Larkin’s family or friends. Larkin, herself, plays Coach Gracie.
