Marti Eicholz

When Mary Turner entered the world, she was already her parents' least-favorite child. Filled with ambition but always seeming to be lacking some crucial skill, Mary left home immediately after graduating high school and set her sights on the endless horizon before her. Mary had had a difficult childhood; when she was young, her grandparents had died in a tragic accident that left the entire family--especially her father, Kenneth--shrouded in a heavy grief. Once on her own, Mary kept her eyes fixed on the future, and soon that future came to include a man named Adam.Though Adam and Mary had a difficult relationship, they eloped in Las Vegas and returned home a (mostly) happily married couple; it wasn't much later that they became first-time parents. After Scotty was born, however, Mary began exhibiting concerning symptoms. She struggled to bond with her child and experienced increasingly volatile emotional swings. Soon after, Mary was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.Mary struggled to cope with her mental illness, and as the years passed, she began turning to drugs and alcohol to soothe her aching mind. She began neglecting, and eventually abusing, Scotty, and the family quickly started to deteriorate. Eventually deciding that Adam and Scotty would be better off without her, Mary packed up her car and ran away to Las Vegas, where she made the bulk of her money by moving illegal drugs. Her time there was a thrilling and dangerous whirlwind, but Mary knew it had to come to an end eventually. Next, she landed in Sedona, Arizona, where she led a quiet, peaceful life, nothing like the one she'd left behind in Vegas.Still, Mary knew she would need to return home and reconnect with the family she'd abandoned. Instead of finding Adam, Mary found Luke, an old friend and fellow addict. Once reunited with Luke, Mary quickly fell in love with him and agreed to help him smuggle drugs out of the country. She was caught at the Dublin airport, however, and sent to prison, where she learned she was pregnant with Luke's child. Her child was taken from her to live with her father.Petals also offers a deeply poignant and introspective look into the many facets of mental illness, substance abuse and recovery, death, heartbreak, joy, and forgiveness. It is through its diverse cast of characters that the reader is allowed a look into the minds and senses of all those touched by Mary's journey. Best suited for readers who enjoy fast-paced action combined with a deeply emotional and introspective narrative, Petals is a multi-generational story of everyday humans who must learn to cut their own paths amid the wild, yet heartbreakingly beautiful, garden that is life.

When Mary Turner entered the world, she was already her parents' least-favorite child. Filled with ambition but always seeming to be lacking some crucial skill, Mary left home immediately after graduating high school and set her sights on the endless horizon before her. Mary had had a difficult childhood; when she was young, her grandparents had died in a tragic accident that left the entire family--especially her father, Kenneth--shrouded in a heavy grief. Once on her own, Mary kept her eyes fixed on the future, and soon that future came to include a man named Adam.Though Adam and Mary had a difficult relationship, they eloped in Las Vegas and returned home a (mostly) happily married couple; it wasn't much later that they became first-time parents. After Scotty was born, however, Mary began exhibiting concerning symptoms. She struggled to bond with her child and experienced increasingly volatile emotional swings. Soon after, Mary was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.Mary struggled to cope with her mental illness, and as the years passed, she began turning to drugs and alcohol to soothe her aching mind. She began neglecting, and eventually abusing, Scotty, and the family quickly started to deteriorate. Eventually deciding that Adam and Scotty would be better off without her, Mary packed up her car and ran away to Las Vegas, where she made the bulk of her money by moving illegal drugs. Her time there was a thrilling and dangerous whirlwind, but Mary knew it had to come to an end eventually. Next, she landed in Sedona, Arizona, where she led a quiet, peaceful life, nothing like the one she'd left behind in Vegas.Still, Mary knew she would need to return home and reconnect with the family she'd abandoned. Instead of finding Adam, Mary found Luke, an old friend and fellow addict. Once reunited with Luke, Mary quickly fell in love with him and agreed to help him smuggle drugs out of the country. She was caught at the Dublin airport, however, and sent to prison, where she learned she was pregnant with Luke's child. Her child was taken from her to live with her father.Petals also offers a deeply poignant and introspective look into the many facets of mental illness, substance abuse and recovery, death, heartbreak, joy, and forgiveness. It is through its diverse cast of characters that the reader is allowed a look into the minds and senses of all those touched by Mary's journey. Best suited for readers who enjoy fast-paced action combined with a deeply emotional and introspective narrative, Petals is a multi-generational story of everyday humans who must learn to cut their own paths amid the wild, yet heartbreakingly beautiful, garden that is life.

"Every day as you guide and nourish, you have new chances to get things right, to sow seeds of love, acceptance, appreciation, encouragement and confidence."Although the parent-child relationship is perhaps the most obvious example of care giving, opportunities for this type of support and guidance abound in everyday life. By taking time to reflect and consider our own childhoods, we may become better equipped to understand and relate to others--especially children--as they navigate their own unique challenges.This learning experience explores techniques and guidance for doing just this. The first chapter outlines four parenting styles--both the strengths and weaknesses inherent to each--and considers how these natural tendencies can be leveraged and expanded to create an optimal child-rearing environment. By better understanding our own behaviors, we can achieve improved balance in our relationships with others.Next, through a comprehensive list of children's common grievances, the author presents tactics that parents may use to identify sources of conflict, close these gaps and better relate to their children and their unique issues or needs. These skills are essential in parent-child relationships, but they may also be extended outward to create stronger interpersonal relationships more generally.Working through our own childhood struggles can help us relate to others with more impact and grace. To this end, a guided meditation leads us through a series of reflections in which the reader is invited to revisit his or her own childhood and to confront any difficulties encountered there. By learning to evoke to our inner child, we may become better equipped to relate to all children. The meditation also makes us more aware of how our caregivers influenced us, and how we in turn might influence others.Finally, we consider the components of a happy family--both what it means, and what it takes to achieve. The final chapter provides suggestions and clear guidelines for fostering a healthy family life, referring back to the personality types outlined earlier in the manuscript in order to create a cohesive scope and approach. Ultimately, the author contends, we all have a responsibility for each other, and learning how to skillfully navigate this challenge can result in a brighter, deeper and more fulfilling life for everyone.

An Angel with Secrets is a novel, dealing with human experience and imaginary characters.When Mary takes the fall for her boyfriend Luke and goes to jail, she has no idea her fate is not the only one at stake. She's pregnant, and she gives birth to her daughter Angel behind bars, where Mary raises her for the first eighteen months of Angel's life, until Luke takes Angel from the prison. However, Angel quickly discovers that living with Luke and his girlfriend Sophia has its own problems, as she is frequently caught in the crossfire of their fractious relationship. Luke, ultimately, leaves Sophia and Angel alone. Although she is only six years old Angel is convinced Sophia would be better off without her. She runs away and eventually finds herself in a group home for children run by Mitsy, a warm and loving woman with a large community of friends and family who all take part in raising her. They name her Angie and help shape her destiny. Although she struggles to adjust, this extended makeshift family supports her as she grows into a young woman, encouraging her to follow her dreams. As Angie puts together the puzzle pieces of her life, she must decide if she can truly move forward without revisiting the past and truly putting it to bed. A moving story of love, family, and survival, "An Angel with Secrets" follows one very special girl as she grows into a woman who thrives and flourishes against all odds.

"The Extended Hand" is the first-person story of how a sixty-plus year old woman came to the point of having to tell the man she loved that she had lost all of their worldly goods, without giving him a warning. Only in retrospect did she understand why she, the daughter of a charismatic fundamentalist preacher with a need to control his family, was driven to excel and perform perfectly. As an adult, she found it hard to love herself--when her first marriage ended, after ten years, she was still a virgin--and went into a web-based business venture at a time when the internet was still a novelty, unable to acknowledge that she was in an emotional black hold.Once, as a child, she fell through an open manhole into a sewer and was rescued by the extended hand of a caring man. Now, even though her business mistakes had wiped out the assets of a thirty-five year marriage, she discovers that her husband is another man capable of extending a hand to someone in need.The story is also that of one preacher's daughter who learns to accept the extended hand of the living Jesus cleansed of the rules and exclusions imposed on it by a narrow, fundamentalist view of the bible's truths."The Extended Hand" is a "contemplative memoir" that covers basic facts of her two seemingly separate lives. The story combines these lives into an overview including political, historical, and religious climates of the time. It is an authentic story, told with the many circumstances put together, as a single life unfolds.

'The Braiding of Diverse Lives' is a moving story that follows two very special girls. Mitsy is the daughter of a busy preacher and a distant mother. Angel is the daughter of lovers who are drug addicts.At the story's outset, Luke looks on as the culmination of Mitsy's lifelong dream, her refuge for homeless, abused, and orphaned children, goes up in flames. Luke recalls his relationship with Mitsy and these streets during his adolescence.Now, Mitsy is gravely injured when she rushes back inside the burning building to save her beloved dog, Blackie. As she lies in a hospital bed in a medically induced coma, her future uncertain, her current boyfriend, Andy, revisits her past.Luke convinces his lover, Mary, to smuggle drugs into the U.K., but she is caught and sent to prison. While detained, Mary realizes she is pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl, whom she names Angel. After spending just a few months with her mother, infant Angel is whisked away by Luke to live with him and his new girlfriend, Sophia, who runs a hair and fashion studio. As she grows older, Angel discovers that living with Luke and Sophia has its own problems; she is frequently caught in the crossfire of their contentious relationship. Luke, ultimately, abandons them. Sophia is a negligent caretaker, perhaps because the child is not her own, so six-year-old Angel runs away. Filthy, hungry, and alone, Angel escapes the city and is found in the farm fields of a kindly couple who take her to Mitsy's nearby orphaned children's home.The different characters in the story demonstrate the coincidences and synchronicity of the universe that are a part of our everyday lives we often fail to see. Everywhere Mitsy and Angel go, they touch those who meet them, and somehow, all the characters seem inextricably linked to each other.This compelling story illustrates the determination and strength of character needed for both Mitsy and Angel to overcome their early childhood traumas and grow into women who thrive against all odds.