Hopes n Hats

About the Book

We had a culture of our own; rules that we lived by, using humor to get us through the tough times. We learned to laugh at ourselves in the face of terror, evil, danger, and to laugh at our misgivings. This book offers something for a broad range of people. Looking back over the sixties and seventies, I have to allow the truth to enter in on occasion. We lived in a simpler time, but still underwent massive changes in our culture. The eighties and nineties, we raised our children, using the faith and values bestowed upon us, by our parents, with a few modifications. Our children are now on their own; given all that we had to give, not monetarily, but from the head and heart to raise their children. Sharing tears is as important as sharing the good times. Our community coming together helped us through it all. We are never too young, too old, too crippled to make a difference in someone elses life.

About the Author

I was raised in a tight community, in Tulsa, Oklahoma;

lucky number 7of 11 children born to Ed and Alva O'Brien. 

Born in 1957, toward the end of the baby boom era;

I had nineteen aunts and twenty uncles.  When my grandmother

O'Brien turned eighty years old, she had 101 offspring.  I was

raised in a Catholic community where volunteer work was

expected and social injustice was not.

   I learned to love volunteering.  I coached, taught music and

Sunday school, was on various committees, involved in theater,

opera and choir.  I worked with parents of children with

learning disabilities and volunteered as a Master Gardener

in Fort Worth, Texas, and was a patient advocate at the Katy

Memorial Hermann Hospital.  Most dear to me, I volunteered

for hospice.

   I found that when we would pack the house and move to

another state or country, I could never recreate what I left

behind.  Looking ahead and not back, opportunities would

present themselves.  It was like trying on hats until one fit. 

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