Imprints On A Tender Mind (1935-1947): In Which the Themes of the Parents Formed the Mind of the Child

In a way I was a regular girl, just living with my parents in a nice Chicago suburb with my two sisters and my dog, Richard. Except, I never usually invited kids into my house to play, nor did I talk about my home life to them. I guess I knew it was pretty bad at times. Like when Dad and Mom drank for six-weeks round-the-clock and acted like two-year-olds. They were never mean or anything like that. Just falling down a lot. Talking like nitwits. But, of course, the drinking would stop flat on its head, and there we would be. A regular family who went the Elmhurst library just about all the time. The thing you need to know is: not only did my parents fall apart back then, but the world did as well. I mean Jewish kids were gassed in ovens while their moms held their hands. I can tell you for a certain fact that Coloreds lived in tenements with garbage rotting in their yards and laundry dangling from rickety porches. I saw that stuff all the time on the L when my grandmother took me shopping at Fields. So I wrote my story for you. I guess to let you know that, if you look hard enough, you'll find good things about your family and the world. Really Though I know it doesn't sound like it. Yet. Best regards. Muriel_______________________________Muriel Canfield was born in Oak Park, Illinois and was raised in suburban Chicago. She has three grown children, lives in Ludington, Michigan and is married to Julian Hutchinson. She graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1978 with a degree in English education: summa cum laude. She has authored four books: I Wish I Could Say I Love You, Anne, A Victorian Marriage with Bethany House and Broken and Battered with Simon and Schuster. Imprints on a Tender Mind, is her fifth book