The Ten Thousand Things: My Mother, The Desert, And Life On The Colorado Plateau - Paperback

by Debbi Flittner (Author), Debbi Flittner (Illustrator), Joanna Wiley (Designed by)

How do you make peace with a cold, distant mother who is slowly dying? The author was faced with this very question. Diving in to help her, she soon recalled harsh, lonely childhood memories in remote red rock country, during the West's dam-building era. There, she escaped her silent home by wandering outside-befriending lizards, plants and the native sandstone landscape.

Alongside her sisters, the author navigates the maze of her mother's needs and sees her through her final days, but then finds herself alone at a dark abyss filled with ten thousand unanswered questions.

Who was her mother? What made her so secretive and unable to connect with her daughters? What was she hiding, and why? The author's young memories hold clues that lead her back to her parent's hometown, where she spent long-ago summer weeks at her grandmother's house. There, a spry, 90-year old aunt now willingly shares old tales about both her parents. With her aunt's help, the author finally fills in-yet doesn't find-a singular meaning resolving who her mother was.

Come along on this soulful, generational journey of loss and love. Find a deeper acceptance of family, belonging, and a surprising meaning of one's own purpose, illumined by a universal Love that shines through all beings everywhere, including ancient peoples there from the beginning of it all.