Fran Syverson should have been the model 1950s housewife. She can prepare a well-balanced meal for surprise dinner guests on a moment's notice, and she can fold a fitted sheet into an exactly perfect square (how does she do that?) But as these pages reveal, she is far from being a demure and obliging housewife. Having survived the Great Depression in rural Wisconsin as a child of divorced parents, she moved west at age 16 to attend college. It was as UCLA that she met her future husband, Howard, with whom she had three kids. From raising a child with physical handicaps to losing loved ones later, Fran's life has not been easy. But she has never fallen victim to life; she is present for it. In these pages you will meet a strong, adventurous, and often opinionated woman. Here Fran shares with you the secrets and wisdom gained during her first eight decades of life. You may decide that she wasn't the "model" 1950s housewife after all, but perhaps she should have been.