In this memoir, written in layered vignettes surrounding an object, the narrator chronicles her early to middle childhood growing up in the San Fernando Valley as the youngest child in a staunchly Catholic family and how the death of her father when she was seven impacted her and her relationship with her mother. Told with insight, humor, and grace of spirit, she reminds us that grieving brings hope, and children need to speak about feelings. The narrator demonstrates how the loss of one parent contributes to the loss of the other parent for a time. She includes life before her father's...