“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.”
From The Secret Life of Bees
Contents
Prologue
Excerpt from Prologue:
When I was five I almost drowned. Even at that age, you’d think I would have had some kind of divine near-death experience—say, a bright light at the end of a tunnel, a chorus of singing angels, or visions of my short-lived life flashing before me. The drama of it all certainly warranted some kind of grand illusion. But no. What happened that day in the lake at Munroe Falls, Ohio, gave way to more practical impressions. It was my first real encounter with guilt. And regret. And thankfulness. And that was even before I ended up Catholic.
But it wasn’t before I’d acquired the Ruth family gene—an inherited characteristic that runs smoothly through my grandmother’s side like fine whiskey. The independent, don’t-care-what-you-told-me-not-to-do-I’m-gonna-go-right-ahead-and-do-it-anyway trait. (Similarly played out in infamous fashion by George Herman Ruth, aka Babe, who our family believes is an ancestor—story in Part Two.) That same trait runs stubbornly through my oldest daughter, and in some cases, can be a good thing.
But that day, it nearly got me killed. Charlotte, my twenty-one-year-old babysitter, a responsible neighbor who’d been watching me since I was six months old, took me, along with her girlfriend and three kids, for a day of sun and fun. It was a man-made lake, and I remember those little orange balls bobbing in the water, dividing the shallow part from the deep. And the rule was: Don’t go past those little balls. Stay in the designated area. . . .
My Ruth side had already declared that rules can be broken. And it wasn’t that Charlotte hadn’t been watching me. But I specifically waited until she wasn’t looking, then took off toward the diving area. Where everyone else seemed to be having a lot more fun. That little voice that lives inside us all warned me, in a forceful whisper, Do Not Go In. But as I said, I have this independent streak. So I compromised.
I’ll just stick my foot in and see how far down the water goes, I told my young self, not realizing there was slippery cement underneath that inviting water. With no traction, my small wet body slid in quickly, like quicksand.
How could I have known how incredibly bad my timing was? That the lifeguard had just walked away for her break?
Part One: Life, Etc.
1.
Child Development
Little Me Too
Poker
Night at Ralph & Vi’s
Choosing a Beatle
2. Fits & Starts
Girl Trouble
Smoking Hazards
Crime & Punishment
All Girls’ School Blues
Confessions of a Not-So-Good Catholic Girl
3. Destination Freedom
Boy Trouble
I was a
Teenage Hitchhiker
Looking for Mr. Good
Car
This Bird Has Flown
4. You Had Me at Vroom, Vroom
Wild Boys of
Summer
Love in a Biker Bar – Or How I Found a Good Man
Rides of Passage
5. Day Jobs
Dialing for Dollars
Suffering for My Art
Memoirs of a Seasoned Hairdresser
Part Two: Love
6. Adventures in Parenting
R is for Ruth – As in Babe
Fathers & Daughters
The Good Mother and the Bad Fairy Tale
A Helicopter Mom
Lets Go
7. Last Call …
Grandpa, The Baseball Fan
G as in Gregarious
Father of Christmas Past
Letters to Kathy
And Tigger, Too
Pennies from Heaven
8. Wine, Women & Wisdom
Girls’ Night Out
My
Best Friend’s Weddings
How My Mother Got Her Groove Back
Part Three: Legacies
9.
What I Know So Far
Perseverance is a Virtue
Fifty Is Not
for Sissies
Music Saves
What We Keep, What We Leave
Homecoming
What I Want To Tell My Children
Epilogue