Storms on the Sea of Tranquility

About the Book

In times past those suffering from cyclical dementia were frequently referred to as suffering from "lunar madness". The book's title, Storms on the Sea of Tranquility is an allusion to that practice. The Sea of Tranquility is of course a geographical feature of our moon. Ironically, those suffering from lunar madness frequently lived a pattern of near normal tranquility that was interrupted cyclically by angry storms of manic madness or deep depression. The book follows the life of a young lady, one Mae Bailey as she struggles with an untreated mental illness. Her family, like most families of the 1950's feared the stigma that a mentally ill family member might bring upon them. They failed to acknowledge her disease and instead covered up her irrational behavior in her manic cycles and the deep depression that also often followed. Ultimately, Mae ends up deserted by both of the men who have fathered her children. Alone and very troubled she and her children enter the welfare system. As she slides deeper into alcoholism, prostitution and a life plagued by mental illness she loses her children to foster care. The book follows the journey that her children travel as they go through the foster care system. It chronicles the difficulties for both the foster children and their foster parents as they travel the difficult path of foster care. The story tells of the heart wrenching separation of the children as two of them are adopted and the other left to survive in the system until he is grown. The book celebrates those more noble among us who reach out to intervene in the life of those most vulnerable among us, foster children. Although fictionalized, the experiences of the book are real life experiences, experienced by the author.

About the Author

The author has been a senior executive in the food business for more than twenty years. He attended college in Oregon and Divinity School in Seattle, Washington. A family man, he has raised his children and is enjoying his nearly twenty grandchildren that have followed. His childhood experience of living for nearly thirteen years in the foster care system gives him a first hand knowledge of the challenges that both foster parents and foster children face. When later in life during a counseling session he was challenged to put his feelings, thoughts and rememberences down on paper, the book was born. When he began this journey he was bitter toward a mother and father he had never really known. As he explored some of the realities that had shaped his life he found a compassion for and an understanding of the mentally ill mother who struggled with an undiagnosed and untreated illness. Having lived a full life and endured his own humanity the author writes with forgiveness toward all who failed to be noble and celebrates all of those interveners who reached out to alter the life of a child.