This book has been almost 30 years in the writing, with touches of Erma Bombeck, Anais Nin, The Waltons, and editorials. There are practical stories, funny stories, and horrific stories, and running through all is my story of a woman trying to recover her lost soul. My maternal grandfather sexually molested and abused me beginning in 1949 and continuing to about 1960. I had one sibling, a younger sister with Down Syndrome. It seemed she got all but the perverse attention. I complied without complaint with my grandfather's will for fear of losing my place in the family. I dissociated from those experiences, buried the memories in my subconscious, until 1987 - when I was 40. I survived, part of me thrived, for years, until the memories heaved up. I overcame it for 40 years. But I'll never get over it. I don't want to get over it entirely. It's who I am. I can barely live what's left of my life in partnership with that shattered child within. But I can't abandon her, never again, no matter what. I am speaking for her by telling her truth. She requires acceptance. I require acceptance. That is my integrity: healing the split, and telling the truth. No more secrets."