My memoir recounts with snark, humor, and naked honesty how, as a little girl, I carried my parents' shame, encased in fear, believing if anyone learned the truth about us, they would use it against me.  An iron will to succeed grew within me, and in adulthood, I began to find my voice and prospered in the hard-wired testosterone of the political world.  My dysfunctional family, like so many others, will amuse you at times, but it isn't all fun and games.  I spent many years wondering if my story would speak to people and upon reading Jenny Lawson’s side-splitting, Furiously Happy about her personal history with depression, and Jeanette Walls' brilliant memoir, The Glass Castle, I decided to finish what I started over ten years ago.

I have been told my life is a moving testament to human resilience and astonishing outcomes, but I think there are many of us who live in a vast field of unnamed offenses, who have not merely survived but succeeded happily.  Mine is not a pity story, but what I hope will constitute an opening for constructive dialogue about issues that are still off limits, in a time when people will remark on just about anything, often without regard to civility, yet remain silent on issues affecting so many.

Endless thanks to successful author Joshua Mohr, who gave me the ultimate compliment saying, “Linda, it made me laugh when I didn’t think I should, and it made me weep,” before starting on my journey to making my mess breathe.  I would never have made it without his initial take and his demanding requests to improve it.