{"product_id":"the-significance-of-curly-hair-a-loving-memoir-of-life-and-loss","title":"The Significance of Curly Hair: A Loving Memoir of Life and Loss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2025 IPPY Book Awards - Silver Medal\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrowing up, Gram was my best friend. We shared a double bed in my family's cottage until I was nine. Fifteen years later, I got the call that she'd fallen and hit her head. All I could see was her mouthing, \"Don't you love me enough to come back home?\" I wept on the plane as I began to write her story, the one she'd asked me to write in ninth grade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGram and I were polar opposites. She spent much of her life barefoot and pregnant. I was a gay, career-driven, independent decision-maker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSearching through old relics, we found a time capsule in Gram's drawer, revealing clues to her dark era, her 1957 breakdown. Dark green pills, a bank book, scribbles on an envelope: answers to unasked questions. She survived stress and abuse without things I take for granted: income, a car, stocked pantry shelves. She did it all with unconditional love, never revealing her pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI'd spent my adult life avoiding becoming a \"traditional\" woman, but her death freed something in me. I realized the importance of child-rearing, understanding a woman like me can balance career and family. Love and support create happy, healthy kids. I could pass Gram's spirit onto a child, braiding generations together from lifetime to lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e ---\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI read, or rather zoomed, through the whole thing. The emotional action just sort of sweeps you along. I had tears in my eyes at the end of Chapter 1. - Mimi Schroeder, APR Max Communications\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atmosphere Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51938574041319,"sku":"9798891322868","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_0374592d-2f2b-40ba-9ecc-fe87a8cee725.jpg?v=1775063742","url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/products\/the-significance-of-curly-hair-a-loving-memoir-of-life-and-loss","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}