As a frequent guest columnist for the New York Times, Patti Davis has distinguished herself as one of our wisest contemporary storytellers. Far from being the enfant terrible she was once portrayed to be, Davis here turns an honest yet empathetic eye toward her parents, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, combining bittersweet recollections—of her father, the eternal lifeguard, who saved 77 people from drowning yet failed to create a coherent AIDS policy, and of her mother, who never escaped the torture chamber of her own youth—with comedic scenes as if plucked from a sitcom, as she describes marrying her yoga instructor at the Hotel Bel-Air, hiding her marijuana stash from the FBI, and constantly evading the Secret Service. An inherently wise work about a family finally reunited through Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Dear Mom and Dad will be readily appreciated by any adult grappling with the legacy of a troubled childhood.

"For the decade of my father's illness, I felt as if I was floating in the deep end, tossed by waves, carried by currents, but not drowning," writes Patti Davis in this searingly honest and deeply moving account of the challenges involved in taking care of someone stricken with Alzheimer's. When her father, Ronald Reagan, announced his Alzheimer's diagnosis in an address to the American public in 1994, the world had not yet begun speaking about this cruel, mysterious disease. Yet overnight, Reagan and his immediate family became the face of Alzheimer's, and Davis, once content to keep her family at arm's length, quickly moved across the country to be present during "the journey that would take [him] into the sunset of [his] life." Empowered by all she learned from caring for her father-about the nature of the illness but also about the loss of a parent-Davis founded a support group for the family members and friends of Alzheimer's patients. Along with a medically trained co-facilitator, she met with hundreds of exhausted and devastated attendees to talk through their pain and confusion. While Davis was aware that her own circumstances were uniquely fortunate, she knew there were universal truths about dementia and even surprising gifts to be found in a long goodbye. With Floating in the Deep End, Davis draws on a welter of experiences to provide a singular account of battling Alzheimer's. Eloquently woven with personal anecdotes and helpful advice tailored specifically for the overlooked caregiver, this essential guide covers every potential stage of the disease from the initial diagnosis through the ultimate passing and beyond. Including such tips as how to keep a loved one hygienic, and careful responses for when they drift to a time gone by, Davis always stresses the emotional milestones that come with slow-burning grief.

"For the decade of my father's illness, I felt as if I was floating in the deep end, tossed by waves, carried by currents but not drowning." In a singular account of battling Alzheimer's, Patti Davis eloquently weaves personal anecdotes with practical advice tailored specifically for the overlooked caregiver. After losing her father, Ronald Reagan, Davis founded a support group for family members and friends of Alzheimer's patients; drawing on those years, Davis reveals the surprising struggles and gifts of this cruel disease. From the challenges of navigating disorientation to the moments when guilt and resentments creep in, readers are guided gently through slow-burning grief. Along the way, Davis shares how her own fractured family came together and how her father revealed his true self-always kind, even when he couldn't recognise his own daughter. The result is an achingly beautiful work on the fragile human condition from a profoundly wise and empathetic writer.

There are all kinds of ghosts. Some hover along dark streets, some perch in tree branches or slither along rooftops. And some live inside us.

Patti Davis has experienced physical and sexual abuse throughout her childhood, two failed marriages to the same man who couldn't give up his addictions, being a single parent of three children, being homeless at 53, a rare form of stage III breast cancer, and a near fatal auto accident that left her with ongoing chronic pain and a brain injury. You will be amazed with how God has brought to life the truths from 2 Cor. 4:7-9 (her life verses) through her story. You will learn how to equalize the pressures of life from the inside out-just like Patti did-and ultimately find "peace in the pressure cooker."

Clever and charming Gracie Davis muses about the curiosities of life, the riches of family and living with wolf spirit in this tender memoir of her unpredictable life as a pug in a California beach town. Along the way she navigates feline relationships, meets Buddha, searches for buried treasures, reunites with a long lost brother, perfects the doggie paddle and comforts human tears. Artfully illustrated by Yoko Matsuoka with photography by Chloe Moore, Gracie's tale is a real treat for dog lovers who wonder what their dog would say (or write) if they could speak, even for one day.

Then Came The Rain Poetry by a victim of child molestation. My name is Patti Davy and I chose to share my feelings and emotions that have occurred because of the molestation in my past. This book is filled with the raw emotions that occur from such trauma that can be hard for some to read but that is not my intent. I did the writing to reach out to people who are in the same situation as me to let them know that they are not alone and that there is hope. There are many of us out in today's world that are hurting and suffering from this horrendous act and are forced to deal with it alone or to keep quiet. The truth of the matter is that this crime affects many aspects of our society through drug use, alcohol, divorce, spousal abuse, child abuse, and the list just goes on. So by sharing my experiences through my poetry I hope I can reach out to someone and let them know that they are not alone. May you calm the storm within your heart that you so desire and become a survivor of your past.

Then Came The Rain Poetry by a victim of child molestation. My name is Patti Davy and I chose to share my feelings and emotions that have occurred because of the molestation in my past. This book is filled with the raw emotions that occur from such trauma that can be hard for some to read but that is not my intent. I did the writing to reach out to people who are in the same situation as me to let them know that they are not alone and that there is hope. There are many of us out in today's world that are hurting and suffering from this horrendous act and are forced to deal with it alone or to keep quiet. The truth of the matter is that this crime affects many aspects of our society through drug use, alcohol, divorce, spousal abuse, child abuse, and the list just goes on. So by sharing my experiences through my poetry I hope I can reach out to someone and let them know that they are not alone. May you calm the storm within your heart that you so desire and become a survivor of your past.

Ronald Reagan's daughter writes with a moving openness about losing her father to Alzheimer's disease. The simplicity with which she reveals the intensity, the rush, the flow of her feelings encompasses all the surprises and complexities that ambush us when death gradually, unstoppably invades life.
In "The Long Goodbye, Patti Davis describes losing her father to Alzheimer's disease, saying goodbye in stages, helpless against the onslaught of a disease that steals what is most precious-a person's memory. "Alzheimer's," she writes, "snips away at the threads, a slow unraveling, a steady retreat; as a witness all you can do is watch, cry, and whisper a soft stream of goodbyes."
She writes of needing to be reunited at forty-two with her mother ("she had wept as much as I over our long, embittered war"), of regaining what they had spent decades demolishing; a truce was necessary to bring together a splintered family, a few weeks before her father released his letter telling the country and the world of his illness . . .
The author delves into her memories to touch her father again, to hear his voice, to keep alive the years she had with him.
She writes as if past and present were coming together, of her memories as a child, holding her father's hand, and as a young woman whose hand is being given away in marriage by her father . . . of her father teaching her to ride a bicycle, of the moment when he let her go and she went off on her own . . . of his teaching her the difference between a hawk and a buzzard . . . of the family summer vacations at a rented beach house-each of them tan, her father looking like the athlete he was, with a swimmer's broad shoulders and lean torso.. . . She writes of how her father never resisted solitude, in fact was born for it, of that strange reserve that made people reach for him. . . . She recalls him sitting at his desk, writing, staring out the window . . . and she writes about the toll of the disease itself, the look in her father's eyes, and her efforts to reel him back to her.
Moving . . . honest . . . an illuminating portrait of grief, of a man, a disease, and a woman and her father.