The first story is not so much about her daring as her ancestors' daring. She shares memories of traveling to New York every summer and visiting her large Italian-American family and what they have meant to her. Their daring later helps her to dare to live in Paris for a year. She was a middle school teacher in Gilroy, California, and begins her summer vacation studying Italian in Florence, Italy. Miraculously, she ends up in Paris and finds a teaching job, a roommate, and a year of unforgettable experiences.

When she returns from Paris, she dares to make lifelong commitments, marrying and having children. She tells the story of a canoe trip and how she learned about the corrosive influence of doubt.

The final stories detail Tezak's older sister's struggle with mental and physical illnesses and the challenge of allowing herself to accept her feelings about her sister, both the good and the bad, that she had for her sister.

Growing up in an acutely dysfunctional environment, Hedwig suffered shame, humiliation and abuse as the illegitimate child of a 13-year-old, and still managed to survive happy, even hilarious escapades. Live the life of this bastard child through her poignant, funny, and unbelievably sad tales of being raised by her grandfather, Vati, in a small Bavarian town.

Theresa reflects the conflicts of living on a farm in searing poverty with eleven siblings in the cold unforgiving North Country with her guardian angel as a source of comfort. Few today have experienced the many scenarios Patnode relates in a starkly realistic manner. Some of those experiences include family struggles on their Ellenburg, New York farm with inclement weather ruining crops, rodent infestation, snow clogged roads as she helps with barn chores, learns basic catholic ideologies in her local church, dresses freshly killed chickens to eat, helps can fresh tomatoes, goes to school in a one-room schoolhouse without running water and attends fun school picnics.

In Gratitude to My Guardian Angel portrays stunning details of a historical time in the United States, a time that was simpler and more basic than the fastpaced, constantly escalating quest for faster and more sophisticated technology in the age of the new millennium.

Theresa reflects the conflicts of living on a farm in searing poverty with eleven siblings in the cold unforgiving North Country with her guardian angel as a source of comfort. Few today have experienced the many scenarios Patnode relates in a starkly realistic manner. Some of those experiences include family struggles on their Ellenburg, New York farm with inclement weather ruining crops, rodent infestation, snow clogged roads as she helps with barn chores, learns basic catholic ideologies in her local church, dresses freshly killed chickens to eat, helps can fresh tomatoes, goes to school in a one-room schoolhouse without running water and attends fun school picnics.

In Gratitude to My Guardian Angel portrays stunning details of a historical time in the United States, a time that was simpler and more basic than the fastpaced, constantly escalating quest for faster and more sophisticated technology in the age of the new millennium.

Theresa reflects the conflicts of living on a farm in searing poverty with eleven siblings in the cold unforgiving North Country with her guardian angel as a source of comfort. Few today have experienced the many scenarios Patnode relates in a starkly realistic manner. Some of those experiences include family struggles on their Ellenburg, New York farm with inclement weather ruining crops, rodent infestation, snow clogged roads as she helps with barn chores, learns basic catholic ideologies in her local church, dresses freshly killed chickens to eat, helps can fresh tomatoes, goes to school in a one-room schoolhouse without running water and attends fun school picnics.

In Gratitude to My Guardian Angel portrays stunning details of a historical time in the United States, a time that was simpler and more basic than the fastpaced, constantly escalating quest for faster and more sophisticated technology in the age of the new millennium.

For Teresa Epps Fletcher, the fall was a long one, a hard one, and one that left her at the very bottom of life's well. It's the story of a young girl who, in order to calm the pain of being molested and seeing her parents break up, took to the streets.

As a therapist, Eileen Bartow-Rives has enjoyed the vagaries and whims of children's thinking and actions for thirty years.

Her observations provide an insider's view of these children as they navigate this unfamiliar situation with a person they do not know, but whom their parents have entrusted with their care for an hour at a time.

Stories focus on the surprising things kids say and do from the moment they are greeted in the waiting room to the time they are returned to their parents at the end of the session. The majority are typical kids struggling with everyday issues. A few face deeper lifelong challenges. All of them have their own view of the world that enlightens our own.

Finally, the stories provide a look into the idiosyncratic, sometimes refreshing viewpoints of kids facing commonplace challenges. Their observations surprise, but also enrich our understanding of what it is like to be a kid.

As a therapist, Eileen Bartow-Rives has enjoyed the vagaries and whims of children's thinking and actions for thirty years.

Her observations provide an insider's view of these children as they navigate this unfamiliar situation with a person they do not know, but whom their parents have entrusted with their care for an hour at a time.

Stories focus on the surprising things kids say and do from the moment they are greeted in the waiting room to the time they are returned to their parents at the end of the session. The majority are typical kids struggling with everyday issues. A few face deeper lifelong challenges. All of them have their own view of the world that enlightens our own.

Finally, the stories provide a look into the idiosyncratic, sometimes refreshing viewpoints of kids facing commonplace challenges. Their observations surprise, but also enrich our understanding of what it is like to be a kid.