Paper Dolls

"Paper Dolls-so fragile, yet so enduring. A little tape and they will last forever." A memoir about three generations of women. A deaf mute grandmother who lived on the verge of reality. A drunken and abusive mother who blamed the world for her life. A story of four young girls, living in a world of uncertainty, fear and abuse, who pulled together to survive. I started this book as a way to put on paper the little information I could remember about my mother, who had recently passed away. I wanted to remember the stories she shared, her experiences with her mother and her own children, and why she did the things she did.

What I found, in the end, was a discovery of myself. A brief excerpt:

I stood for several minutes, my eyes adjusting to the darkness. The smell was always the same: stale beer and overflowing ashtrays. I quickly looked to find her sitting in her favorite seat at the bar, the same people on either side of her, the same music playing on the jukebox.

My sisters and I took turns when we had to get Mom from the bar. It was my turn; it was only fair. We had been sitting in the car for hours with nothing to eat and nothing to drink. She promised she would only be a minute. She promised.