{"product_id":"the-significance-of-curly-hair-a-loving-memoir-of-life-and-loss-9798891323100","title":"The Significance of Curly Hair: A Loving Memoir of Life and Loss","description":"\u003cp\u003eGrowing up, Gram was my best friend. We shared a double bed in my family's cottage until I was nine. Fifteen years later, I got the call that she'd fallen and hit her head. All I could see was her mouthing, \"Don't you love me enough to come back home?\" I wept on the plane as I began to write her story, the one she'd asked me to write in ninth grade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGram and I were polar opposites. She spent much of her life barefoot and pregnant. I was a gay, career-driven, independent decision-maker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSearching through old relics, we found a time capsule in Gram's drawer, revealing clues to her dark era, her 1957 breakdown. Dark green pills, a bank book, scribbles on an envelope: answers to unasked questions. She survived stress and abuse without things I take for granted: income, a car, stocked pantry shelves. She did it all with unconditional love, never revealing her pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI'd spent my adult life avoiding becoming a \"traditional\" woman, but her death freed something in me. I realized the importance of child-rearing, understanding a woman like me can balance career and family. Love and support create happy, healthy kids. I could pass Gram's spirit onto a child, braiding generations together from lifetime to lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e ---\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI read, or rather zoomed, through the whole thing. The emotional action just sort of sweeps you along. I had tears in my eyes at the end of Chapter 1. - Mimi Schroeder, APR Max Communications\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Atmosphere Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50692565991698,"sku":"9798891323100","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c097729a-f3ec-4f4c-8b90-c39324f337a4.jpg?v=1734127438","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-significance-of-curly-hair-a-loving-memoir-of-life-and-loss-9798891323100","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}