Sharon N. Main
Author
About the Author
Sharon Naomi Main truly believes that she is exactly where the Lord wants her today, after blessing her with a beautiful lifetime of love with her late husband, Mark Main. Their relationship was one that weathered life’s challenges well.
Sharon is retired. She still lives with their black cat, Ned Pike, in the home she and Mark moved into in February 1979. In the summer of 2023 she rescued another dog: Ellie, a liver-and-white six-year-old cocker spaniel.
Remembrances of her sweetheart are all over their home. She still drives Mark’s 2012 Dodge Ram pickup, sitting where he sat. Though her life is no longer the same, it is made rich by all those who loved the Mains and now love Sharon alone, especially their son Mark and his family. Does S. Naomi Main have another book in her future? Perhaps.
About The Book
“An American Girl” centers around Sharon Sholl, an ordinary girl growing up in America, who meets an ordinary young man, Mark Main, two weeks before her sixteenth birthday, who blows to pieces her little world, she says of him. Meeting Mark in 1968, four weeks before he was to leave for Vietnam, Sharon's love story is about their extraordinary journey over the next 50-plus years.
From the moment she was born, she also traveled a relational journey with the God of the universe, the Creator God. She didn't pursue that relationship seriously until in her early forties, she and Mark came to a point in their marriage when it seemed as though they had hit rock bottom.
The author shares, “About ten years ago, I purchased a large scrapbook-type book and had an engraved plate put on the front cover that said, ‘The Life and Times of Mark and Sharon Main.’ Being the picture person I was and having so many pictures of us throughout our lifetime, my thinking had been, at the time, to sort of chronicle our life from birth to whenever. It never came to fruition. So I decided to make that scrapbook now. I worked on it from March until May. Turns out, it was a precursor to my writing this book.”
Published by Fulton Books, S. Naomi Main’s book is a touching love story that presents the beautiful, the distressing, and the unattractive parts of the author’s journey of nearly seventy years. Deeply personal and heartfelt, Main shares her story in the hope of connecting with readers from all walks of life who will identify with some of the challenges she faced, as well as the joys one encounters in this life on Earth that are available to all.
Book Excerpt
We had a leisurely Sunday morning after breakfast. I made the bed and washed up the breakfast dishes. Mark dried them and put them away for me.
“I thought we’d go for a ride in the Vette early this afternoon, maybe get a Twin Kiss cone…just see where we end up.” Mark took the top off the car. It was sunny, but a little cool to be riding with the top off, so he turned on the heat. That was perfection! We went to Snaks for a mixed cone and then ended up at Milton’s. Having missed him the other day, Mark wanted to stop and see him.
Milton was home; Kathy was with him. We showed them our wedding rings, smiling. “Hey, man,” said Milton. “Looks like you been gettin’ plenty.”
“Yeah. My baby loves me, you know,” Mark said, still smiling, almost laughing.
Milton looked at me and smiled a genuine smile. “That’s very cool. I’m happy for both of you. May I kiss the bride?”
Mark and I looked at each other. None of Mark’s other friends had asked that question. “Yeah, just keep your tongue out of her mouth,” Mark said, laughing. “I’d hate to have to take you out, friend.” Mark and Milton had this real warrior thing going on when they were together.
Milton gave me a little peck on the cheek. “You know you’ve found the best man in the world? And you know he loves you…only you. It’s always been you.”
“Yes, I do. It took me a while to figure that out. I don’t plan on breaking his heart again.” I was a little shocked by Milton’s honest and personal comments. He was a true friend. We’d only gone out with Milton and Kathy once, and I’d not seen that side of him. Kathy just stood there, smiling.
We got out of the car. Mark and Milton went off to Milton’s shop to look at the latest bike he was putting together. Kathy and I talked. She loved Milton, and I think he loved her, but he didn’t have marriage on his mind. Milton was a free spirit. I wasn’t sure he’d ever have marriage on his mind.
As we drove back home, I asked Mark if he thought Milton and Kathy would ever get married. “I don’t think so. Milton has this wild thing in him. It’s like he and a bike are one. I think he loves Kathy…,” Mark said, not finishing his sentence.
“What else were you going to say?”
“Milton drinks too much and then drives too fast on his bike.” He didn’t seem to want to say any more, so I didn’t push the issue. I reached over and rubbed his leg. He put his big hand over mine. That feeling of security and protection came over me. I wrapped myself up in that feeling.
The rest of our evening at home was like an old married couple. We ate dinner and stretched out on the sofa to watch TV, falling asleep with Mark’s arms around me. Our little honeymoon weekend was sublime!
We jumped back into the regular routine the next day.
We had a leisurely Sunday morning after breakfast. I made the bed and washed up the breakfast dishes. Mark dried them and put them away for me.“Yeah. My baby loves me, you know,” Mark said, still smiling, almost laughing.Book Excerpt
As many of the recent summers summoned us to enjoy the patio, so did the summer of 2019. One warm June Saturday evening, around 10:00 pm, I drove to Kim and Jeff’s to let Sheba out while they were away. When I got back home, Mark was still outside on the patio where I had left him. The balmy, breezy full moon evening was too magnificent to resist. We sat outside until nearly midnight; Mark reminisced about his childhood. “You know, when I was a little boy, I used to love to sleep outside in my tent on a night like this,” he said. Mark had told me about the tent his father put up in the family backyard. It even had electric! “I bet I slept outside more during the summer than I slept in the house.” “Did Bruce ever sleep outside with you?” I asked. “Not too often, but every once in a while. He was a mama’s boy and had to sleep in the house and have mommy tuck him in at night,” Mark said, laughing. “Sometimes Buster Honig came up to sleep in my tent with me. Maybe I’ll sleep outside tonight.” I envisioned my man as a little boy, sleeping outside in his tent all by himself. It was both a sweet and sad picture in my mind. If I had been around then, I think I would have loved Mark Main. I understood when I first met my man that he enjoyed his early years. He willingly shared an abundance of engaging stories about his childhood, over the last fifty years.
Purchase
Readers who wish to experience this inspiring work can purchase “An American Girl: Based On A True Story” at bookstores everywhere, or online at:
Books Signings, Articles, Events
News
This Week in America
March 2, 2024 Sharon N Main is interviewed by Rick Bratton of This Week in America.
Fulton Books Press Release
New York, NY, February 06, 2024 --(PR.com)-- Fulton Books author S. Naomi Main has completed her…
