The Fallout From Abandonment

If we're honest, most of us feel we fell far short of the "ideal parent" mark and wish we'd done things better, differently, been more sensitive or savvy. But most of us don't leave. The author and her two brothers find themselves mom-less when she takes off in her blue car to assume a cameo role in her kids' lives forevermore. It's a tale as old as time, but it doesn't mean kids don't feel it. I felt sorry for everyone in this book: the kids, obviously, the long-suffering father, trying to make ends meet while keeping his kids on a path of some sort, and even the mom, who clearly seems to have some undiagnosed mental illness. Melissa's story is heartbreaking and brittle, but there is redemption and forgiveness in there, too.