Memoir

This memoir traces a life shaped, challenged, and ultimately defined by the bond between two sisters.

Centered on my relationship with my sister Nancy, from childhood through adulthood, this story examines how loyalty, humor, frustration, resentment and powerful love coexist within the same relationship.

As Nancy and I matured, I learned to appreciate what persons with disabilities could do, rather than their limits. Although the desire to distance myself from her pulled at me, her vulnerability and sheer presence pulled me back. This story does not shy away from the difficulties of growing up in a large family with a sibling with so many challenges. Although humor runs throughout, it is balanced by a strong sense of reality. As your read, you will begin to grasp the quiet nuances of caring concern and deep exhaustion.

In reflecting on why I wrote this book, two reasons emerge: to keep her from fading in my memory, and to create a vessel that holds Nancy close to my heart. This story is as much about who I was with Nancy as it is about Nancy herself.