DEAD IN A DITCH: GROWING UP IN TEXAS AND OTHER NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
I come from a large family. My Mother's biggest fear was that one or all of us would die on her watch when we were babies and then children. As we grew up, her fear shifted a little - not just that we would die, but that we would be found Dead In A Ditch. It was the ditch part that always made it seem so much worse, something drug or alcohol related, to be sure. Mother's children crumpled up and tossed out the window like an old beer can. 'Where have you been?' she would say, 'I was worried sick. I thought you were dead in a ditch.' This was Mother's mantra.
DEAD IN A DITCH: GROWING UP IN TEXAS AND OTHER NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
Author Jody Seay is as compelling in person as she is on the page. Her memoir is like looking at someone’s picture album and, bit by bit, figuring out the story of a loud, rowdy, both loving and dysfunctional Texas family of the 1950-60’s and beyond. From snakes to heathenism to communists to lockjaw, Jody takes the reader on a ride full of laughter and tears, swirling through her childhood of double-dog dares, screeching through a young adulthood filled with addiction, danger, stupid choices, redemption, and am amazing amount of (mostly undeserved) good luck to, finally, coming out as a lesbian to her very conservative family after her realization: LIVING AN AUTHENTIC LIFE IS THE BRAVEST THING SHE’LL EVER DO.