Seeing Eye Girl : A Memoir of Madness, Resilience, and Hope

As the “Seeing Eye Girl” for her blind, artistic, and mentally ill mother, Beverly Armento was intimately connected with and responsible for her, even though her mother physically and emotionally abused her. She was Strong Beverly at school—excellent in academics and mentored by caring teachers—but at home she was Weak Beverly, cowed by her mother's rage and delusions. Beverly's mother regained her sight with two corneal transplants in 1950 and went on to enjoy a moment of fame as an artist, but these positive turns did nothing to stop her disintegration into her delusional world of communists, radiation, and lurking Italians. To survive, Beverly had to be resilient and hopeful that better days could be ahead. But first, she had to confront essential ethical issues about her caregiving role in her family. In this emotional memoir, Beverly shares the coping strategies she invented to get herself through the trials of her young life, and the ways in which school and church served as refuges over the course of her journey. Breaking the psychological chains that bound her to her mother would prove to be the most difficult challenge of her life—and, ultimately, the most liberating one. As the “Seeing Eye Girl” for her blind, artistic, and mentally ill mother, Beverly Armento was intimately connected with and responsible for her, even though her mother physically and emotionally abused her. She was Strong Beverly at school—excellent in academics and mentored by caring teachers—but at home she was Weak Beverly, cowed by her mother’s rage and delusions.

Beverly’s mother regained her sight with two corneal transplants in 1950 and went on to enjoy a moment of fame as an artist, but these positive turns did nothing to stop her disintegration into her delusional world of communists, radiation, and lurking Italians. To survive, Beverly had to be resilient and hopeful that better days could be ahead. But first, she had to confront essential ethical issues about her caregiving role in her family.

In this emotional memoir, Beverly shares the coping strategies she invented to get herself through the trials of her young life, and the ways in which school and church served as refuges over the course of her journey. Breaking the psychological chains that bound her to her mother would prove to be the most difficult challenge of her life—and, ultimately, the most liberating one. Winner of 5 independent book awards, including NIEA, Next Generation Indie, Independent Press Award, Beverly Hills Book Awards and Readers'Favorites After her mother and father divorce at age seven, Leslie quickly learns the hard lessons of being Dad's favorite. The abuse begins at age nine and doesn't end until she begins to fight back, finally, at age fourteen. Her father, a larger-than-life Norwegian, assumed full custody of Leslie and her two sisters and moved the family from their 63-acre rustic ranch in Northern California to a 45-foot sailboat in Southern California. The family spent two years living aboard their boat preparing for the trip of their father's dreams: a trip around the world. On February 5, 1975, the family set sail for French Polynesia. Intense and inspiring, Fourteen is a coming-of-age adventure story about a young girl who comes into her own power, fights back against abuse, becomes an accomplished sailor, and falls in love with the ocean and the natural world. The outer voyage is a mirror of her inner journey, and her goal is to find the strength to endure in a dangerous world, and within a difficult family. Candid, Relatable Stories By Established And Emerging Women Writers About Being Discarded By Someone From Whom They Expected More: A Close Female Friend. There Are 161 Million Women In America Today, And Our Friendships Are Still As Primary And Universal As Back When Ruth And Naomi, Elizabeth And Susan B., And Thelma And Louise Made History. When A Romantic Relationship Breaks Up, No Problem--there's An Adele Song For That. Health Concerns; Problems In School; Issues At The Workplace? We've Got Our Chums To Prop Us Up. Until We Don't. When Our Most Sustaining Relationships Dissolve--those With The Women Friends In Our Lives--there's Never Been The Fanfare That Accompanies The Loss Of Other Relationships Society Deems More Important. Until Now. In Dumped: Stories Of Women Unfriending Women, Twenty-five Established And Emerging Writers--including Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ann Hood, Carrie Kabak, Jessica Handler, Elizabeth Searle, Alexis Paige, And Editor Nina Gaby--explore The Fragile, Sometimes Humorous, And Often Unfathomable Nature Of Lost Friendship. These, Like Your Own, Are Stories That Stay With You--maybe For A Lifetime. As a young girl in the Midwest, Constance Hanstedt was consumed by fear—of her parents, especially her disapproving mother, Virginia; of social situations; and of people in general. Unable to connect with those around her, she embraced perfectionism as a substitute for love. Raising her own family eased some of Hanstedt's self-doubt. But even as an adult she remained guarded around her mother, avoiding conflict at all costs. Still, when Virginia developed Alzheimer's, Hanstedt did what the perfect daughter she'd always struggled to be would do: she returned to the Midwestern town where she was raised to help care for a mother who could no longer care for herself. In Don't Leave Yet, Hanstedt recounts her journey toward facing her fears and rising above the past; her mother's unrelenting bitterness regarding life, even as she loses memories of it; and her unexpected discovery of an emotion that reaches beyond familial duty: compassion. In accordance with her Sicilian Catholic family's unspoken code, Paolina Milana learned at an early age to keep her secrets locked away where no one could find them. Nobody outside the family needed to know about the voices her Mamma battled in her head; or about how Paolina forged her birth certificate at thirteen so she could get a job at The Donut Shop; or about the police officer twenty-six years her senior whose promise to her Papà to “keep an eye on her” quickly translated into something sinister. And perhaps that's why no one saw it coming when—on the eve of her sweet sixteen, pushed to edge—Paolina attempted to take her own mother's life. Raw and compelling, The S Word is the true story of a girl who nearly suffocates in the silence she was taught to value above all else—until she finally finds the strength to break free of the secrets binding her and save herself. AUTOBIOGRAPHY: GENERAL. After her mother and father divorce at age seven, Leslie quickly learns the hard lessons of being Dad's favorite. The abuse begins at age nine and doesn't end until she begins to fight back, finally, at age fourteen. Her father, a larger-than-life Norwegian, assumed full custody of Leslie and her two sisters and moved the family from their 63-acre rustic ranch in Northern California to a 45-foot sailboat in Southern California. The family spent two years living aboard their boat preparing for the trip of their father's dreams: a trip around the world. On February 5, 1975, the family set sail for French Polynesia. Intense and inspiring, "Fourteen" is a coming-of-age adventure story about a young girl who comes into her own power, fights back against abuse, becomes an accomplished sailor, and falls in love with the ocean and the natural world When her alcoholic and emotionally abusive mother's health declines, Joan Rough invites her to move in with her. Rough longs to be the “good daughter,” helping her narcissistic mother face the reality of her coming death. But when repressed memories of childhood abuse by her mother arise, Rough is filled with deep resentment and hatred toward the woman who birthed her, and her dream of mending their tattered relationship shatters. Seven years later, when her mother dies, she is left with a plastic bag of her mother's ashes and a diagnosis of PTSD. What will she do with them? Courageous and unflinchingly honest, Scattering Ashes is a powerful chronicle of letting go of a loved one, a painful past, and fear―a journey that will bring hope to others who grapple with the pain and repercussions of abuse. As a young girl in the Midwest, Constance Hanstedt was consumed by fear -- of her parents, especially her disapproving mother, Virginia; of social situations; and of people in general. Even as an adult she remained guarded around her mother, avoiding conflict at all costs. Still, when Virginia developed Alzheimer's, Hanstedt did what the perfect daughter she'd always struggled to be would do: she returned to the Midwestern town where she was raised to help care for a mother who could no longer care for herself. In Don't Leave Yet, Hanstedt recounts her journey toward facing her fears and rising above the past; her mother's unrelenting bitterness regarding life, even as she loses memories of it; and her unexpected discovery of an emotion that reaches beyond familial duty: compassion. When Hollis Giammatteo sought a job working with the elderly, she did so with the intention of finding models of healthy aging. And she failed. In The Shelf Life of Ashes, Giammatteo chronicles her experiences with her wards, as well as the trip she embarks upon when her mother, who is convinced she is dying, entreats her to come "home." Trips back, traumas triggered, identity in crisis, equanimity gained--this quasi-comic, concentrated journey engages the reader in the process of naming and facing the tasks involved in growing old, while asking a simple but weighted question: Can aging be done well? "Obsessed with sailing, Leslie Nack's larger-than-life Norwegian father has a dream to live on a sailboat and show his three daughters the world. And although it takes years, in 1975 he finally completes his preparation and sets his sights on French Polynesia. But when they begin their journey, Leslie, who has just turned fourteen, faces a disturbing reality: her father, who's crossed boundaries in the past, is not to be trusted ... and she's trapped with him on a 45-foot sailboat."--Back cover A complicated journey The map of aging well A medley of awkward changes and flagging self-esteem Helen Bloody resignation Role reversal Identity and other foolish matters Alice John The quandried self The back room, or how not to die The disappointment of failed connections Riddles abound in resolution My Christian science The strange case of mother's knee The claudication of John The perfidy of things Love and final trips remembered Blue toes, silver ashes The shelf life of ashes. A Daughter's Chronicle Of What Happens When She Invites Her Alcoholic And Emotionally Abusive Mother To Move In With Her In Hopes Of Helping Her Through The Final Stages Of Life--and Her Dream Of Mending Their Tattered Relationship Fails Miserably. A daughter s chronicle of what happens when she invites her alcoholic and emotionally abusive mother to move in with her in hopes of helping her through the final stages of life and her dream of mending their tattered relationship fails miserably