LDS mom’s book and songs, “Wings of Glory,” give hope that “individual self-worth can be restored, friendships can be mended, and families can become strong once again.”
Kristine Litster Fales, mother of 11 and a Latter-day Saint, once wrote songs about family happiness and love. But when she discovered one of her teenage sons was using drugs, the direction of those songs changed.
“From the anguish of my soul,” she writes in a small book accompanying a new CD, “I began writing songs about the pain and sorrow of drug and alcohol addiction.” As she occasionally shared her songs with others, they wept with her. Eventually, despite the difficulty of revealing things she’d rather forget, and in hopes of helping others, the Salinas, Calif., woman decided she must share her story and her songs.
Enter a younger son, Ben, who studied music media at BYU and now works for the school’s Tantara Records. “I shared with him my real dream to make a CD about recovering from drug addiction, which would have all these songs on it,” she writes. “Without hesitating, he said, `Let’s do it.'”
Ben turned his mother’s simple words and melodies into a dozen upbeat, well-performed songs on “Wings of Glory,” a CD released by Fales Productions. Ben is one of the vocalists on the CD, along with Jill Slentz, a fellow music media grad. (He also appears on its cover.) Kristine’s husband, David, a marketing executive, encouraged her to write the story behind each song; they’ve been compiled in a companion booklet.
The 60-page booklet divides the experience into “The Sorrow,” “The Hope” and “The Healing,” prefacing the lyrics to each song with a retelling of the circumstances, often heart-wrenching, that led to its creation. She’s also added a list and explanation of “Five Elements of Recovery” as well as a dozen suggestions for family and friends who are dealing with an addict. Those things, had she known them at the time, may have helped her avoid more problems, says son Ben. Says his mom, “The message is simple: Never give up.”
Kristine Fales writes on the CD jacket that her threefold purpose in recording the songs and writing the short book were, first, to inspire her son Jonathan with confidence that he could break free from addiction’s chains; second, to help herself and her family heal from the pain they’ve endured because of this son/brother’s addiction; and third “to reach out with a message of hope to everyone who has suffered from the devastation and despair of addiction.”
While the situation with this son is not completely resolved — now 30, “He’s still trying to work on his recovery. We’re still trying to work on ours,” Kristine writes. The author/songwriter reports they enjoy a close relationship because “we never stopped loving him.”
Jon himself had this to say about the CD: “Each song touches the root of every problem that addicts or alcoholics have in their lives.” Admitting that he was so high on drugs when he first heard the songs that he had no desire to listen, he says the songs were a real help and support to him in staying “clean” once he started going to AA meetings.
“The music and lyrics penetrated the walls that had grown and hardened around my soul through years of abuse,” he says. “Listening to this CD has given me the desire more than anything else in the world to get clean.”
The family is now working to develop a prevention program and guide for parents. See www.wingsofglory.net to learn more or to order “Wings of Glory” ($9.95 for the book, $15.95 for the CD, or $19.95 for both).
Kristine Fales will be interviewed on BYU broadcasting’s “Living Essentials” with the theme of drug abuse. Program airs Thursday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. MDT on KBYU-TV.
