LINDA S. CONE shares a motley collection of essays originally designed as motivational or informative writings interspersed with family stories. They may contain twisted and warped attempts at humor or just simple reminiscence. Beware You may see yourself somewhere within these pages. That could have been intentional, but it probably just happened. Many events in life just seem to happen, but they are written on the tapestry of our life.

Says Linda: "Writing personal stories can be a bit like an 'emotional striptease.' As personal as it seems, these writings are not just about our...