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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.
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.
"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.
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.
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."
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.
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