Showing results by publisher "Second Story Press" in Relationships

Freedom 55? The so-called “Golden Years”? What if you are slowly losing your memories and your motor skills? Or what if you are the devastated witness as your partner struggles with dementia? Lewy Body Disease is a form of dementia second only to Alzheimer’s in numbers, yet many doctors and almost no lay people have ever heard its name. This is the story of two courageous people, Julie and Ken Sobol, life partners as well as writing partners. Caught up in the frightening and fatal fog of Lewy Body Disease, they started writing this book together.

Since Joel tackles what happens when the unimaginable loss of a child becomes reality. Julie Schwartz introduces listeners to her son Joel David Schwartz, who lived with Autism Spectrum Disorder and died by accidental overdose at age 25. Joel’s unique cognition created situations where he baffled yet informed; infuriated yet endeared; lost and yet won. His mother describes how Joel was a “charming nerd”, inviting us to get to know him in all his complicated detail. She asks that we maintain Joel’s memory by finding small ways to be kind and celebrating our differences.

In her bittersweet memoir, Mary Fairhurst Breen sketches scenes from a life darkened by generations of mental illness and addiction. Despite the odds, Mary’s sense of humor and willingness to practice “radical acceptance” see her through the chaos to a life full of friends, art, and the joys of being a grandmother. Ultimately, she must face her greatest challenge of all when her daughter becomes one of the tens of thousands of people every year to die of opioid poisoning. This is a journey of awakening and activism, and a portrait of a life to be celebrated in all its complexity.

Separation and divorce can be a grueling experience. Spouses who once loved each other can be swept up by an adversarial system where they declare war on each other, forgetting all that was good between them and disregarding the needs of their children. It doesn't have to be that way. When Cate Cochran and her ex-husband’s marriage failed, they tried an unusual arrangement to keep their family together.