The Full Ripened Grain
A Memoir of Healing and Hope
by
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"When my own sense of harmony began to clash with my surroundings in midlife, I entered a time of personal exile. Maybe what happened to me was predictable. Maybe it was the agonizing twenty-year vigil I kept while my mother lay in a vegetative state, the victim of medical malpractice. Maybe it was the long-delayed diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome tics. Maybe it was the unacknowledged anger and childhood grief withheld over my parents' divorce and my father's secret life. Maybe it was the unexpected pregnancy and a post-partum hormone problem. Maybe it was living in a fishbowl in a small city and the high expectations of church and community. Maybe it was the pressure of responsibility serving as the trustee of a college while taking care of he needs of husband, home and three young children. As a new century approached with all its hopefulness, I became sadder than a pumpkin in December."
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About the Book
The Full Ripened Grain is a memoir about a successful baby boomer, wife, and mother who finds herself deeply depressed for no apparent reason. When her loving husband says, “I want my wife back,” she searches for herself in the pages of thirty years of personal journals. From them, she recollects painful and poignant issues she faced with her family during much of the twentieth century: Tourette syndrome, her mother’s fate as a victim of medical malpractice, her father’s secret life, and the death of a beloved sister. Ultimately, she reaps the grains of truth, hope, and joy that God provides on this journey of faith.
About the Author
Benay Nordby lives near Seattle with her husband of 47 years. They have raised three children and invest time in their ELCA Lutheran church and island community. She is a former news editor and college trustee.