Book Review: Hold My Breath by Ginger Scott

Hold My Breath by Ginger Scott

Synopsis:

Fractions of seconds can do lots of damage. One decision can ruin lives. A blink can be tragic. And loving a Hollister…can hurt like hell.

I would know.

They say the average person can hold their breath under water for two full minutes when pushed to the extremes. Will Hollister has been holding his for years. The oldest of two elite swimming brothers, Will was always a dominant force in the water. But in life, he preferred to let his younger brother Evan be the one to shine.

Evan got the girl, and Will…he got to bury all of the secrets. A brother’s burden, the weight of it all nearly left him to drown.

The daughter of two Olympians, my path was set the day my fingertips first touched water. My future was as crystal clear as the lane I dominated in the pool—swim hard, win big, love a Hollister.

My life with Evan burned bright. He gave me arms to come home to, and a smile that fooled the world into believing everything was perfect. But it was Will who pushed me. Will…who really knew me.

And when all of the pieces fell, it was Will who started to pick them up.

In the end, the only thing that matters are those few precious seconds—and what we decide to do while we still have them in our grasp.

Review:


Hold My Breath by Ginger Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is an unwritten rule that when a friend breaks up with a girlfriend or boyfriend, it is NOT okay to date their -ex. But, what happens when the person you've loved since forever dated your brother and he DIED?

This is the emotional battle that Will Hollister has to fight. With that battle, his training, and a secret he's been hiding from the woman he's loved his entire life, no wonder Will Hollister feels like he's in another plane diving toward Earth.

These battles go in the same direction for our heroine, Maddy Woodsen. She's a swimmer who has the potential to win Gold at the Olympics and decides to take a year off from school to train and compete. The love of her life, Evan Hollister, was killed along with Will and Evan's parents in a plane crash.

So we have a dead lover/brother, a man living with "Survivors' Guilt," a girl who loved a young man who was not who he appeared to be, and another young man who is also taking time off to train and compete at the behest of Maddy's father and coach, an Olympian himself.

Lives are in knots here. There are secrets to be revealed. There is information neither of them really wants to hear but they both NEED to hear.

Will Hollister is a hero in this novel by Ginger Scott. After the plane crash, he didn't so well. His grieving process was destructive. Training alongside Maddy is exactly what he needed to get out of his pit of guilt. The responsibilities he's taken on would spread even the most devoted and organized of persons, too thin.

And Maddy? Well, she's unfortunately oblivious to the real world. And she needs someone to give her a look at what real life outside of college, and outside of training to win a medal, is like. Because Will has always loved Maddy, he will have to be the one to be honest with her about all of these things.

Overall, I enjoyed this book because of the adversity that Will Hollister had to overcome. To get from losing his entire family in a plane crash that he somehow survived, to being asked to train for the Olympics by a coach he most respects, Will Hollister has gone to Hell, then back and then into a different kind of Hell.

I enjoyed how Will treated Maddy like a smart young woman. Sometimes he coddled her but we tend to coddle the ones we love in order to protect them from physical and emotional harm.

I give this book FIVE lovable stars. The secondary characters in this novel are not be forgotten either. They help Will fill in the answers to the mysteries in this book. Will's uncle, and only other living family member, is a walking book of wisdom. Maddy's best friend and nursing school classmate is a laugh riot. Her teasing and innocent flirtations with Will make for good humor in all of the right places.

Ginger Scott has never failed in writing anything less than greatness. The emotion is always just right. The romantic scenes, whether simply sweet, or adult and piping HOT, are always spot on! She has perfected the "first kiss."

Three years and three months ago, Ginger Scott published "Waiting On The Sidelines." That novel was a lot of "firsts" for me. I have NEVER missed reading every book Ginger Scott has ever written, and I have never been disappointed with her stories. Her characters are genuine and her stories are still entertaining. And what's a book if it doesn't take you on a journey? This book succeeded in taking me on another journey outside of my own day to day grind.

I truly do appreciate EVERY single novel Ginger Scott writes.

*Full disclosure: I was given an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Book Review of "Blindness" by Ginger Scott

Ginger Scott, author of "Going Long" and "Waiting On The Sidelines," (The Waiting Series), has done it again! Ms. Scott has written another 5 out of 5 stars novel that is going to knock your socks off!

Charlie Hudson is a young college student who lost her father in a horrible way when she was barely 18 years old. Cody, is a former motocross star who is now living a blue collar life at 23 and attending college. They meet in her third year of college when Charlie goes to a much needed tutoring session for her Calculus class. Cody, like Charlie, lost his father at a young age.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was asked by Ms. Scott to read an ARC of "Blindness" and to give it an honest review. My biggest worry was that with my job, my pursuit of a second college degree and life being so busy, that I wouldn't be able to give this book what it was owed: my time. Well, that wasn't an issue because as soon as I had it, I started reading and I had a really difficult time putting it down. In fact, I actually hated every time I had to put the book away to go to work or to work on my class work. Had I been able to stay up all night for just one night, I'd have read the entire book in one sitting. This book will capture your heart that quickly.

I fell in love with Charlie and Cody as soon as they met each other. Charlie is unsure of who she is in many ways but she's lovable because she knows she's unsure and she's seeking to find out who she is. Cody is the type of guy you'll want for a potential mate or if you already have a permanent mate in your life, you'll want him to be more like Cody. But he's got his own issues too.

You'll meet Gabe and Jessie as well. Gabe is Cody's friend from childhood and although not blood related, he's Cody's brother. Jessie is Gabe's girlfriend who befriends Charlie and she's, well, she's much different than Charlie. I have a best friend who is a lot like Jessie and I loved her character but Jessie is a character you'd want as your friend too. Jessie is, for all intent and purposes, Cody's sister.

Ms. Scott has written characters that are honest, lovable and so incredibly real. I love that Cody is sensitive but retains every single stitch of his raw, macho, manliness. I also love that Charlie may not seem to be as tough as Jessie but when she needs to, she doesn't take any s**t.

There is one scene which I'll only describe as starting out in the rain when Charlie walks out of a club. From the start of that scene all the way through to its end, I found tears streaming down my face. It was really that beautifully written. I could feel the emotions expressed by Charlie and Cody the entire time. An emotional connection like that from a novel is so incredibly foreign to me. Ms. Scott now holds the distinction of being the only author who has been able to evoke that kind of emotional reaction from me while reading a novel. Twice.

I connected with Charlie quite a bit but mostly when she spoke to her dad. My own father died in a manner incredibly similar to Charlie's father and I speak to my father as well when I need it. And you will find out why Charlie is still so raw about her father's death even after three years have gone by.

The only thing I would have liked to see, if I were making a wish list, would be to see the Epilogue go a little bit farther into the future. But as written, it's still written with excellence.

The relationships in "Blindness" are stunning!

"Blindness" comes out on February 25th. I'd originally planned to get this as a late birthday gift to myself (it's February 22nd) so many thanks to Ms. Scott for the early birthday gift!

"Blindness" will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords and Kobo. If you can preorder, I highly recommend that you do. If not, mark your calendars and get your copy on February 25th and treat yourself to a belated Valentine's Day gift that is much sweeter than any box of chocolates!

Book Review of "Little Joe" by Michael Glasscock III

I don't know if others bothered to read the Q&A with the author at the end of the book or if they simply didn't notice it at the end of the book, but I noticed that some of the reviewers who didn't like the book as much as I did seemed to think Michael Glasscock did a lot of research to write this book.  What we find out in the Q&A with the author was that a lot of these characters are based on real life people and the grandparents are based on his own maternal grandparents who he lived with for nine months out of the year.  He also wrote most of the book from his own memory.

The other thing I noticed about many (not all) who rated and reviewed the book a little bit lower were either from a much younger generation (basically anybody who didn't have WW2 era grandparents) OR, they didn't know a whole lot of their WW2 history or what American culture was like during that time.  The reaction to the grandparents from younger readers find the grandparents harsh or uncaring.  What they either missed or don't seem to know is that it was the 1940's, it was during WW2 and one's elders spoke to children much differently than they do today.  That's because they were more strict.  Seems to me the younger generation readers don't know that entitlement, or that the world owes you something was not taught back then.  If you wanted anything at all during that time, you worked for the money to buy it or you built it yourself or you did some kind of work for trade.

But, the story follows Little Joe Stout who goes to live with his grandparents in Round Rock, TN in the early 1940's during WW2 after he and his parents are in a car accident from a blown tire.  Both of Little Joe's parents die in the accident and a new life (and lifestyle) is thrust upon the young boy.

His grandparents are what I would describe as "tough old birds."  LIttle Joe's grandmother, who becomes Mommy Washington to Joe, is your basic, older Southern woman, who cooks everything in bacon grease, reads a lot, smokes a lot and is your traditional church-going wife.  At the same time, even though she lost her only daughter, she's a tough old bird.  She may be strict and she might appear to be pushing Little Joe too quickly to "get over" the death of his parents but I think that's just how it was back then.  These would be people who lived through The Depression and then they have to live through a war.  What we don't get to read about, presumably because the story is about Little Joe, is that Little Joe's grandmother probably spent quite a few nights in her room, by herself, grieving for the loss of her only daughter and thanking God for sparing her grandson.  So yes, she's tough and strict and makes Little Joe do chores but she's not mean or evil or nasty.  Country life is different than city life and when she tells Little Joe that he'll get used to country living and country food, she's not being mean, she's being strong.

At first, one might think Little Joe's grandfather, Daddy Washington, is a total milquetoast.  Not at all.  He's a quiet Southern gentleman who probably lets his wife think she rules the roost while he goes out and makes a living as the town engineer.  He's got his man-cave (the garage), he sits down and eats what his wife puts in front of him and we don't see the grandparents argue.  Just because we don't see it, doesn't mean they don't.

And then there are Little Joe's friends.  Sugar is a bit of a tom-boy but still wears her hair in girly pigtails and talks about who likes who on the school bus.  Bobby is a "colored" boy from the "colored" part of town.  Most of the action we see with the three of them is at Little Joe's farm although we do see them going to other places in the book.  Sugar can kick a shin that'll put tears in your eyeballs and Bobby is just a fun little boy.  It doesn't take long to figure out that these three are no doubt friends for life even though the book spans the first year of Little Joe's life in his new home and environment.

We get a look at racism in this book when Little Joe's grandmother stands up to the local "white trash" bullies who try to beat a Chinese man traveling through on the way to see his son who is leaving for the war.  The town bullies seem to be all adult white men who believe he's a "Jap" and think he should be in one of the camps with the rest of the "Japs."

Little Joe quickly learns that his grandmother doesn't like people who don't like people who hate "colored people" or anyone who is different (i.e. not white).  This is a time where Jim Crow laws are in effect and there are separate water fountains, separate schools, etc.  And she's not this way to be all political or to make statements.  She is how she is because she respects all human beings.  Little Joe comes to his grandparents already uncorrupted but his grandmother strengthens that attitude by leading by example.

The only thing I could not figure out was the age gap.  If Little Joe's grandfather is 70 years old, then surely his grandmother is in her mid to late 60's. How do they have a 9 year old grandson and they only had ONE child?  Since everybody had children so young back in that time, I would have guessed Little Joe's grandparents to be in their 40's, perhaps late 40's.  When I was 9, my own WW2 era grandmother was well into her 50's but she had 11 children.  So when I was in my early 20's, she was in her early 70's.  It was just something I noticed but it doesn't take anything away from the book.

Overall, this an A+ book that I loved and I'm looking forward to reading the other three book in the series.  According to the author, the 4th book returns to Little Joe in his late 20's so I can't wait until it's published.  I'm dying to know if Little Joe goes on to be a Veterinarian.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review in return.  I'm looking forward to recommending this book.  It's for anybody who can read.

Review of "Poor Little Dead Girls" by Lizzie Friend

***SPOILER ALERT***

Sadie Marlowe is an ace lacrosse player who is recruited to play at one of the country's finest boarding school's: Keating Hall. She's the "scholarship" from Oregon. Her schoolmates are from wealthy families who come from big business, politics and her two roommates are actual British royalty. The "brother" school to Keating Hall is DeGraffenreid Academy. Sadie's newest friend, Jessica, who she met a summer lacrosse camp, describes the brother school's guys as "terrible-they're like mini corrupt politicians in training."

Just as she's getting settled in, Sadie is "kidnapped," complete with black covering thrown over her head and being drugged. She wakes to find herself tied to a chair in the center of a mysterious group of robed strangers who chant in Latin and a male who threatens Sadie to never speak of the experience of she dies. There she finds out she's being initiated into a secret society. Think Skull and Bones meets Freemasons meets The Illumninati.

Supposedly, their goal is to perform good works for the less fortunate and it appears they do sponsor some different organizations that do just that. However, what Sadie finds out is that their real goal is to create a completely new generation of wealthy, connected people who all have the "right genes" who can oversee the government, the country, the economy and even the world.

Sadie learns that her mother attended Keating Hall and that she was indeed part of a wealthy family. Also a huge question is what really happened to Anna, the student who mysteriously disappeared and was found dead the year before Sadie got there.

This story is about Sadie, her acceptance into a secret society of teenagers with wealthy parents who are also members of the society and how she deals with the strange experience of being accepted by her wealthier classmates who wouldn't look at her twice but for the society membership.

POOR LITTLE DEAD GIRLS is full of mystery and intrigue. Sadie even finds their secret laboratory where she finds her own eggs harvested and frozen for creating embryos. I have to admit, that seemed to be more creepy than learning about the mysterious death of Anna.

Sadie meets Jeremy early in the story and they become a couple. He also happens to be the other newest member of the secret society.

What this all finally boils down to is that the secret society members are responsible for the death of Sadie's mother and Anna's death who turns out to be related to Sadie and her mother. With the help of her friends, Sadie finds a way to make sure the secret society is brought to the public eye.

Overall, I give this book 5 stars because it's not the typical YA type of story I would read it kept me completely on my toes. I couldn't put it down. Sadie goes from shy and reserved to determined to find out the answers to all of the secrets. Lizzie Friend goes out on a different limb here to paint a darker story without the use of science fiction or sparkly vampires or medieval fantasy. There are places in the story where you might expect something to be more climactic but the story has an intense flow that takes you up to a really high peak and then lets you hang there for a while. Lizzie Friend doesn't give you the regular peaking escalation followed by the resolution. She takes up to the peak and lets you sit and squirm for a while. I kind of liked that difference.

I enjoyed Sadie's friend Jessica. She's not a member of the secret society but she stuck by Sadie throughout the whole book and was understanding when she finds out not only what Sadie has gotten herself into, she's a kick ass friend knowing the danger involved just by knowing the society exists. She along with Jeremy come up with a plan to get these these people exposed.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The ARC I received was a PDF to read instead of an ePub book. It was a little bit more difficult to read because of the format. However, I can't take away stars for that. ARC's are sometimes given out in PDF form and you make adjustments. However, when this book publishes, you won't have any of these issues. So, I recommend you place it on your "to-read" list. The expected publish date is December 18th.

What A Woman REALLY Loses When She Loses Her Daddy (Updated June 11, 2011)

June 11, 2011 at 6:24 AM

With Father's Day just around the corner, I figured it was time to sit down and re-read through this special piece and update it a bit. Please note that you are reading from 2009. Updated information is indicated.

The original can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=120168433408.

Warning: some material contained is GRAPHIC, shocking and NOT for the faint of heart. But, it is the truth as I know it. It's not in full, this merely touches the surface. Other Notes I have written on FB intertwine with this one to fill in a lot of, but not all, of the history.

Original composition date: Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 6:06 PM:

On June 21, 2009, I logged onto FB like any other Sunday. And then I logged off. So why did I, a total Facebook-A-Holic (just like the rest of you), abandon FB that day? It was FATHER'S DAY.

At no time in my whole 40 years on Earth do I ever recall having an internal, emotional reaction on Father's Day like I did this year. I'm still not even sure why, maybe it was the glut of Father's Day posts, I really don't know. But I did do a hell of a lot of thinking over the course of that day.

Your story is never going to be exactly the same as mine if you've lost your dad. It will never be the same as mine because those of us who have lost our dads lost them to different situations and at different ages. But, that day I wondered how much I may have missed because he wasn't here. Ever wonder what you really missed after he was gone?My father was viciously murdered, shot to death, by his step-brother on February 21, 1973. He would have been 27 years old less than a month from that date. That was also the day before my 4th birthday. I've been told the step-brother was an overly sensitive, milquetoast type of guy. And I've been told that my father had kind of a wise ass sense of humor. I suppose, on that particular evening, those two things just didn't mix well. Left behind were a wife and two young children.

The stories I heard when I was younger was that my father was just out of the Army after serving his country during the Vietnam-Era. I have his military records that confirm it. I don't know how they met but my parents got married right around early 1967. In February of 1969, I came along and 13 months later, my brother was born. I'm told that my dad was a commercial painter and worked all over the city.

So this past Father's Day 2009, I replayed my life and inserted what I thought life would be like if he wasn't taken away, in some cases by identifying what was lost after he was gone. *Cue the flashback-y, dream music*

My biological mother went completely insane. Her grief sent her into a downward spiral that to this day has never stopped spinning. Drugs like booze and cigarettes and even pot were common back then. But she spiraled out of control and drank, smoked pot, popped pills, snorted cocaine and shot up heroin. She became a drunk and a junkie. She's never recovered and it eventually killed her.

I don't believe for a second that my father would have allowed anything more than what was socially acceptable at the time and I highly doubt he would have allowed things like "works" and needles into his home where his young children were present. Had he lived, my biological mother may have never crossed that line.

And then came the violence. My biological mother became a heinous abuser of her children. Inflicting violence on the very offspring that came from the man you loved and grieved for never made any sense to me. Still doesn't. We were both smacked, kicked, punched, stabbed, slapped, burned and beaten mercilessly without warning. I even got shot. The bullet grazed my belly so I was lucky I guess. The "pop" of the gun that wasn't meant for me was more noisy than painful. Had my father lived, discipline would have been no more than maybe a spanking.

I lost a mother.

With my father gone and my biological mother out of control, the strange bed fellows were frequent. My brother and I spent a lot of nights at my grandmom's house. But, it didn't matter where we were. At home, after passing out from her drunken stupor, those strange men entered my bed in the dark of night and did things no child should ever know about at that young age.

While at my grandmom's house, my grandfather and one of my uncles living in the house also sexually assaulted me over and over. Had my father lived, none of these strange men would have come around and if my grandfather and uncle had still done what they did and my father found out? My grandfather would not have lived until the early 1990's and my uncle would likely not be alive today.

I lost my innocence.

I got good grades in school. I went to voice lessons. I auditioned, performed, and my aunt Margie kept me out of the house as much as possible. I was supposedly smart. Smart enough to be sent to Masterman from 5th grade to 9th grade. At the end of 5th grade, we came home from school to a padlocked door. The rent was not paid.....again. My brother and I walked to our grandmom's house. Great. Now what? My stay there was short and I was old enough to stay away from my grandfather and uncle but I was removed from all of that and went to live with my aunt-mother (my biological aunt and adoptive mother).

She did a fine job raising me after detoxing me from the drugs I was given often and my singing talent was already well known. She took me to church on a regular basis. My hair grew back. I got my ears pierced. I got clean clothing, I got fed breakfast, lunch and dinner (my brother and I used to go for days with no food). I got presents for Christmas and my birthday. I was taken to the dentist and the doctor for check-ups. And while I was extremely active and my confidence was a little better, I was extremely shy around boys. My hormones suddenly activated and all of the sudden, there were boys I liked being around. The teasing I endured at Masterman was hell on Earth already and now I had to talk to boys?

I lost the man who would have been the best advisor and I probably would not have been teased (or perhaps not to the same degree) were it not for starting out at Masterman dressed like a dirt bag. Oh, my body was always clean but my biological mother would not buy us new clothing. She'd just pick out junk from a local thrift store. I wouldn't see new clothing until moving in with my aunt mother. And my hair didn't grow back until I was already there for a year.

I lost my dad's lap to sit on to ask about boys and my protection from bullies.

In 9th grade, I was selected to audition for this special high school. A place where I could learn to be a better singer and performer as well as prepare to go to college for music if I wished. In 10th grade, I entered the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA). During the summer in between Masterman and CAPA, I grew taller, my body grew around my chest, and I'd developed a few curves. My hair was red, long, and styled; my clothing was in style for the times. Not all the fancy labels but up to date. And I learned how to wear make up.

I was terrified on the first day at CAPA. I sat in the auditorium next to two girls I would come to know as Susan Donnelly and Janice Barclay. They just talked to me. Because of how we were seated they knew I was a singer just like them. And they were as friendly as friendly could be. It was a new building for them too and having seen where the school was housed before, we basically chattered about what the building we were in was like.

I spent the rest of the day finding my locker, finding my classrooms and bopping around with my best friend Lorna who also came to CAPA from Masterman. It was wildly different. Punk hair, blue hair, spiked hair, leather jackets, chains, ripped jeans, dance tights, guys who wore makeup, and every other possible type of dress under the sun was all under one roof. I got to sing that day. In three periods of classes too.

My father never heard me sing, not once, not ever.

I had crushes on boys. One boy in particular too. For years, right up until today, I would be his friend. Update: we are still friends today. Senior year came. I'd made a name for myself and had a decent rep. I'd experience performing in places I would have never imagined. My confidence was off the charts. I was never teased and I had no enemies (none that I know of anyway). And then what should have been one of the biggest rites of passage for me came along: my Senior PROM.

I knew exactly who I wanted to go with. I think EVERYBODY knew who I wanted to go with. Well, he never asked me and even with all of the confidence in the world I still couldn't bring myself to ask HIM. I never went to my prom, the one I wanted to go with asked another girl...same name, different spelling...and I spent the night of my prom with my best friend Lorna. Surely if my father had lived, I would have had the prettiest purple dress, probably a limo to take me there, my hair all done up pretty and ready to dance the night away with my chosen date.

But, I'd lost my dating advisor. There was no dress, no pretty hair, no limo, and no date. So, I also lost my rite of passage.

My father would not see me graduate from high school ranked high in my class, the winner of two Music scholarships, the Outstanding Vocalist of the Year Award, and a one year ride to study Opera at UCLA. 

I went on to college at Penn State. I did well there. I was engaged to be married, we split up, I dated, I partied (never touched an illegal drug), I sang, I studied, I worked. I was the FIRST person in my family to graduate from college. My father would not see me graduate college either. Had he lived, instead of a degree in Administration of Justice and Music from Penn State, I'd probably have just one degree in Music Performance, Voice concentration, from UCLA, which was the much better school.

Update: as far as I know, I am STILL the first person in my family to graduate from college. None of my cousins on my father's side of the family graduated earlier than 1992 and I don't know if my aunts and/or uncle attended or graduated from college.

The rest is harder to guess. I'd become an independent young woman with a brain and a mind of her own. Would I have met the idiot who would become my first husband? I don't even enjoy giving him the title of "husband" even though it's preceded by "EX-."

Had my father lived, I probably would have known what the red flags were sooner than later.

I do still believe I would have met Kevin. My father would be 5 years older than him. But I do believe my father would have approved of him with a huge gold star and a big, red bow! I believe he would have walked me down the aisle, my biological mother, sober and proud, already seated in the pew to my left. My father would have loved Kevin's parents (R.I.P.), especially Kevin's father.

Update: I still believe that my biological mother would have been a sober woman had my father lived. Today, she is still a drunk and a junkie. She did 5 years in Muncy for Manslaughter, was paroled, served 5 years of clean and sober probation and the day after it was up, she was right back in it.

Had my father lived, I might be famous. He might have had grandchildren. With no insane widow to kick the shit out of me, my reproductive system might have developed correctly and Kevin and I might not have had any problems with conceiving and I probably wouldn't have had any problems carrying those babies to term.

My father was a Catholic-Christian man who served his country, lived a clean life, worked hard, got married, had children and was only getting started on the rest of his life and it was flushed out in a fraction of a fraction of a second over what amounted to nothing but a silly joke spoken in front of the wrong, young and stupid idiot who probably never thought of anybody but himself. Update: as far as I know, this is still correct information. I'm still working to learn the full story. I could get a copy of the police report and read it. But, that man is named and I do NOT want to know his name.

I have never visited my father's grave. I want to but there is no head stone there and I can't find the only living relative I know he has: his sister (and my aunt) Christine. She had to bury him and I cannot find her to negotiate placing a proper marker on the site where he was laid to rest. I am still searching for her.

Update: Aunt Tina (Christine) has been found and is wonderful. She has two beautiful children (my cousins), Jason and Lucille. 

There is also my father's only brother, Vincent. He has three beautiful daughters, Brittany, Michelle and Nicole. 

I have an Aunt Roxane (Brittany's mom) who has been a God appointed angel. 

My Aunt Vicky passed away a while ago and there is an Aunt Patsy as well.

My paternal grandmother for who I am named, Theresa Casper, passed away in a fire before I was ever born. I've also learned I'm 1/4th Polish.

My paternal grandfather, John Casper, passed away from a heart attack at 57 years old. And, supposedly I'm 1/4th Lithuanian.

I'm looking forward to meeting ALL of them real soon.

If YOUR father is still alive, even with all of his faults or problems and issues, honor him. Cherish him. Find something positive about him to embrace.

So, what does a woman REALLY lose when she loses her Daddy? She loses her best admirer, her biggest crush that becomes second only to the man she marries. She loses her protector, her provider, and her biggest fan.

And, she loses a piece of her own soul. That piece of her soul will only be replaced when she goes to meet him someday and he's there to place it back in the hole left in her heart.