'Someone's survival guide'

Albert Einstein said of going through the pains of human existence: "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle."

Local author Chelee Finch subscribes to Einstein's second assertion, and her book, "Saving Myself One Miracle at a Time," tells the story of the mother of three daughters' reliance on her family, faith in God, and inner resilience to face life's struggles head on.

In the prologue, Finch says, "Life is full of unique challenges every single day. How we choose to face these challenges can make or break you. I want to share my personal story with others of adversities that have affected me during my life and how I overcame them with my faith and how I learned to live."

Born in Terry, a small town of just under 600 in southeastern Montana, Chelee and her family would move to the family farm over by Binford at the age of one. She would graduate from Midkota High School in 1993, and received her nursing degree from the University of Jamestown in 1997.

Her 25-year career in long term care followed, which took her to jobs at Golden Acres Manor in Carrington and the Lutheran Home of the Good Shepherd in New Rockford. In November, 2021, she took a job with Noridian Healthcare Solutions, where she works from home doing claim review.

Writing has always been an escape for Finch. In her younger years, she says she wrote a lot of poetry, but recent events have brought out her creativity as a form of therapy.

"Over the years, me and my family have endured a lot of trials, and writing was a way for me to express myself," she says. "We had three premature babies, and our youngest was born in 2005 weighing only 1 lb., 4 oz., and I faithfully wrote on a CaringBridge site for three years, pre-Facebook."

Her posts, Finch says, were a way to keep family and friends informed on her daughter's health, but it was more accurately a means to express her innermost feelings.

"I found it to be very therapeutic," she said. "I started to write a book [which would eventually become Saving Myself] during those years, but life happened and I never finished."

In the past few years, she and her husband, Mark, along with their kids, endured more trials along the way, and she began to document those stories via a personal blog. That would encourage her to finally finish the book she had started years ago.

In Saving Myself One Miracle at a Time, Finch explains the rationale for telling her story:

"I shared our trials and struggles because many of these things break marriages up and they easily could have broken us. However, we chose to love each other even on the days we didn't really 'feel' like loving the other person. We continued to 'choose' to love each other. Too many marriages end because either one or both people don't want to put in the work.

"Marriage is far from easy. It takes a lot of hard work, sweat, and tears. If you both put in the work, it will be more than worth it. We have had a lot of things that we wish we could do over or take back. Since this is not possible, we choose to learn from our mistakes, and we choose to move forward."

Finch says that she wrote the book to share "my story, OUR story."

"It touches on trials from infertility, premature babies, suicide, mental health, addiction, and all that has gone along with these trials," she says. "I wrote this so that others may be inspired to know that everyone has trials of their own."

With the pervasive influence of social media, she says that it is remarkably easy to "hide behind the filters," and portray a perfect life when it is more often than not a superficial cover for more pressing concerns.

"I want others to know that struggling is a part of life, but it is possible to get through these struggles and come out stronger on the other side," says Finch. "Mental health and addiction are two things that I am passionate about, and I want others to know that the struggle is real."

The stigma of those issues, she adds, is very real, and she wants others to know that it's okay to admit these things, and to tell "YOUR story."

"Hearing other people's stories is what has helped me to heal in many ways, and I want to pay it forward," says Finch. "If my story, OUR story can help one person, then it was more than worth sharing."

Now that Saving Myself One Miracle at a Time is published, Finch is pondering more written works.

"I have done some thinking of possible books," she says. "I've thought about a book on marriage, and I've also thought about gathering other people's stories of strength and hope, and compiling them in a book too.

"My story could be someone's survival guide," she concluded.

Finch says she is also open to getting some public speaking "gigs" about her story, which she says a friend is trying to line up at the moment.

"Saving Myself One Miracle at a Time" is available on e-book and paperback from Amazon and Barnes and Noble online only at this time.

"I do have some copies at home, and if anyone wants to contact me personally, I can certainly get them a book that I have on hand," Finch said.

She can be reached on Facebook via her profile, Chelee-Mark Finch, by sending an instant message, contacting her by phone at (701) 307-0087, or by e-mail at [email protected].