Bloom Where You Are Planted

This extraordinary real-life memoir is about overcoming obstacles, victory, and defeat, an inspirational family narrative, and a historical trajectory of facts and culture in the US from the 1950s to the present time. There are undertones of a yearning for a return to the more civilized society that baby boomers grew up in. As the wife of the man, who after climbing the corporate ladder for years became the president of Mack Trucks Inc., the author had to uproot four children and move many times. While attending to all of her children who have been involved in every childhood sport imaginable, her main focus was on her youngest with cystic fibrosis, a fatal disease, which requires multiple treatments several times daily. That was an incredulous balancing routine, doling out equal attention to all the children. The extreme highs and lows of life have skewed the family perspective by the trauma of the youngest family member toggling on the tenuous tightrope between life and death. The family learned to never sweat the small stuff as they incessantly waited for the other shoe to drop. Paula's family has greatly appreciated every morsel of happiness, lives awash with triumph and tragedy. When people who live with intense life challenges share similar circumstances with others, they become of one accord, form bonds and intimacy. Paula survived a rife of life-threatening childhood illnesses, a molestation, apathy, and subpar grades in a draconian Catholic school where nun oppression was the rule. It was turned around twenty-five years later when she graduated magna cum laude from Emory University. Paula changed hats often working in airline passenger service, as professional ski instructor, as an older student, as an events planner for the Carter Presidential Center, and as an editorial producer for CNN Atlanta and NYC. They were all happening while relocating residences often, raising four daughtersone with special needs, and volunteering for everything from PTA, Girl Scouts, church, Little League. She also cared for her dying sister for six years and escorted her executive husband to global conferences. Paula rides with Central Park Mounted Patrol and is Gigi (grandma), where life has taught her to Bloomwherever she has been planted.

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