Linda Meikle

Dusty Angels and Old Diaries Linda Meikle

Everyone has a story to tell. Most are lucky if they find one person who will listen. This book shares over 40 years of personal diaries that give birth to the unusual story of my life. When I was three years old, my mother wrote a goodbye note and disappeared without a trace. Her four small children were placed in the custody of the State of New York. Separated from our older brother and sister, my sister and I grew up fleeing from child protective service workers who only saw a glimpse of the conditions in which our grandmother was raising us after she illegally took us from the orphanage. This book tells my story based on a lifetime of my old diaries that relive the abuse and pain suffered at the hands of an unbridled, angry woman; the slow death of a turbulent marriage; the birth and blessings of two wonderful sons; and the lifelong search for my lost siblings. It describes the agonizing search for my mother - and the pivotal moment when I found her, almost forty years later!This autobiography is not about the ancestry of the Brantley family, the Mascunana family, or the Cash family. It is about innocence and power. It is about weakness and strength. It is about those who helped create the paths I took. I must write this so that my children will know the journey that I traveled before they were born, so my brothers and sisters will know who I am, and so my mother will understand why I can forgive her. It is a gift to myself and to you, the reader. It serves as my legacy for the future! Put on your soft slippers and walk with me a while.