A memoir of love, acceptance, and the late arrival of grace
by Miranda Fozard
If “I’ll meet you there” finds its way to you, what I hope it offers is what writing it gave me: permission to look at your own life with patience, to forgive yourself for what you did not see in time, and to believe that the people you love can still be reached, and can still reach you, in the time you have left together.
With love, Miranda
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October 2026
Available in paperback and ebook
“I’ll meet you there” is a memoir of love that does not flinch, of acceptance given across three generations, of a child becoming the person she had always quietly known herself to be, and of the ordinary, hard-won hope that a family can live, openly and well, in the full daylight of who its people are.
It is a book about the fierce, unconditional decision a parent makes the moment a child reveals herself: that whatever this road is, you will walk it beside her, and no one will be allowed to come between you. It is a book about the long, ordinary, unspectacular labour of being present, of taking your daughter to laser appointments, of helping her choose a dress, of sitting on a bench by the sea while she cries and telling her she cannot have everything she wants because she will need you near.
And it is a book about the late, almost impossible grace that arrives in a nursing-home room near the end of one woman's life, when a difficult ninety-four-year-old mother, who has been complicated and self-absorbed all her life, listens to her daughter, accepts her granddaughter without hesitation, and says the new name twice, meaning it. In that small room, Miranda receives, from the person she had stopped expecting it from, the acceptance she had waited her whole life to feel.
I would have thought that by the time I reached middle age, life might have settled down for me. But life had some surprises, as it always does, and in early 2020, it shattered me.”
Hear from the author
Miranda Fozard
I was born on the Isle of Man and live in Ontario with my husband, Damian. I’ll Meet You There, my first book, is a memoir about the four years between the start of the pandemic and my youngest daughter's wedding - years in which I lost both my parents and learned what it means to remain present to the people I belong to while they are changing.
From the book
Prologue
"You have to take care of yourself and those around you,"
He was using his authoritative but kind voice, aware that I might challenge it but secure in the knowledge that I would ultimately heed it too.
"But, Dad, I want to be with you," I sobbed, no resolve left.
"I want you to be careful," he said. "This is a terrible thing."
Dad died a couple of weeks later, on 5 April 2020. The island had closed its borders, following the new health protocols. I never made it back to him.
Chapter 3
"I always found it so hard to go home, the way that felt in the pit of my stomach."
I remember feeling startled when my dad said this. He had been a much-loved child; he had a sister eight years older than him who, even in her last years, still regularly phoned and kept him as near as she could. And by his accounts, his parents loved him dearly. But he was talking about forever being seen as a young man and the passage of time changing things and the obligation he felt to see his parents.
He would say in later years, "Don't come home out of obligation." He saw this as a terrible thing, a falsehood.
I never felt obliged to visit him; I loved him and always wanted to see him.
Chapter 3
As in all small towns, everyone knows everyone else's business. Everybody knows your life story. If they don't know you, they know of you. You see the same kids throughout your school years, sitting in every class with many of them from age three to eighteen.
In fact, your classmates can still follow your life long after your school years end. The island's newspapers cover all births, marriages, deaths, and other major events. And everyone, regardless of age or background, still reads the local papers, the main source of Manx news until social media came along.
Being known - that is the hard thing to escape from and grow beyond on the island, harder than getting away from the island; you can always be called back to your youth and can never fully escape your past.
Chapter 5
From quite a young age, Lily would often raise the topic of being a boy and that she wanted to be a girl when she grew up. I can't quite remember when this first became such a focus for her; it just seems to have been part of her consciousness.
"When I grow up, I want to be a girl."
She said this well before she'd hit puberty. I can't remember what prompted it, but I do remember my unfortunate response. It has stayed in my mind like a pebble in your shoe.
"Oh, no, lovey, you are a boy and have those bits, and when you grow up, you'll be a man."
I gave no room for doubt or even questioning it.
Chapter 8
"It's been rather tricky at home," I ventured, gaining her full attention now. "Isaac is fine, but . . . well . . ."
I gulped, thinking that I just had to tell her as best I could that the little boy I'd had was now going to be the girl that they wanted to grow up to be. I ploughed on.
"I don't know how to say this . . ."
I smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"But I have an Isaac and a Lily now."
She was looking at me, and I could see she was confused by what I was saying. She said, "Isaac and Lily?""
Yes, Mum, they have chosen a new name. They want to be known as Lily."
I nodded and our eyes locked.
Lucky for me, Mum might have been in her nineties, but she was as sharp as a tack. I could see that she was thinking about what I was saying. At the same time, she seemed to already understand completely.
"They want to be known as Lily, and they are living as a girl."
A tear pricked my eyes.
Mum said the new name without missing a beat. "Lily . . ."
She smiled and nodded. "Well, yes, they have to be comfortable in themselves," she said with seriousness and understanding. "Yes, that's the most important thing."
She repeated the name again. "Lily . . ."
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October 2026
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