Tag: family

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Books

Review: Life Is Difficult

La Vita E’ Triste, Ma Pure Bella: Life Is Difficult, But Also Beautiful by Mary R Pagano

I give this book a 4.

 

Here I thought my family was crazy! Just kidding, but not really. 😉

This memoir is a short read for those who read memoirs all the time. It took me a while to read it, only because I read a bunch of other stuff at the same time. For me, reading intense drama based on reality requires the break of escapism through fiction from time to time. While this story does have light moments, most of it is drama…family drama.

Every family is different, it’s true, but I think we are all more alike than we’d sometimes like to admit. There were things that happened in this story that would never have gone down in my family without someone calling the cops and actually following through on the charges, but not everyone thinks that way. There are things you’ll put up with from family that a stranger couldn’t even contemplate trying to do.

I liked this story because it made me appreciate my family and my life, for all the struggles we do and don’t have that bring us closer together. This is a short and simple read filled with drama and emotion.

I recommend this book to fans of memoirs.

Disclosure-This book was given in exchange for an honest review.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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EC: Giovanni's Angel Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 18: Adoption

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of a cup from a black & white tea set from my own collection I posted on my tea pin board.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation I’m thinking about Eternal Curse and I’m writing about: Why adoption?

It starts out very subtle and builds rapidly in the first story, but in the second one it really takes off. What I’m talking about is my adoption theme. Adoption is very important to me for many reasons I’ll share briefly, but first I want to talk about how it appears in my ECS.

In book one, both Giovanni and Mira are orphans to some degree, and by the middle of the book, they along with Abraham have formed a surrogate family. In my second book, there are many more surrogate family dynamics and more adopted children to love and raise. The idea that family is limited to the people you happen to be related to by blood went out the window for me a long time ago, and whether I do it consciously or not, the adoption theme will always have a place in my writing.

For me personally adoption is a big deal. I never knew that there were so many people in the world who truly looked to blood relations as somehow being more important or significant that others until I grew up and saw it for myself. There are so many people who have trouble reconciling the fact that the man I call father isn’t my birth father. I have a younger sister, who was adopted, but now lives with her birth family. The drama regarding this is much too sensitive to write about now, but she’s still my sister. Other people just don’t get it. It blows my mind that there are people in this world who would literally turn their backs on a child just because he or she wasn’t connect to them by blood…I’m going stop here before I start to ramble and rant.

Real family is comprised of people who love you regardless.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Listography

Listography of Toi 19: People I’ve Lived With

listography

These are the lists that tell my life story. They are in no particular order and some of them are very personal. Please be nice, and if you want to share, I’d be glad to take a look at what you have.

People I’ve Lived With
-family
parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents, etc…(not all at once, thank goodness)

-a high school friend

-roommates (all female)
two jocks
a boy crazy brain
several sorority girls
a high functioning stoner
one weirdo
one mama’s girl

-my fiancé turned husband

Listography are books and a website dedicated to helping you write or consider your autobiography through the process of making lists.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords