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by John M. Noldan (Author)
The story is a fictionalized semi-autobiographical effort done in the first person narrative starting in Medias Res with flashbacks that reveal a very dysfunctional family life and the personal struggles and sacrifices required to survive there and achieve what no one else in the family could do. The negative effects of parental alcoholism, mental and physical abuse, and poverty and a very long road of education chosen for its difficulty as a challenge and an assured exit from his early years. After a life long experience in Medicine, the only assurance we have is our beginning and our end. We can't chose our family at birth but we adapt as best we can. We survive by finding a place of peace and chose those we associate with to help us through the rough patches. Some have to escape their past for a better future and create plans as to how to do this. We reach crossroads and have to chose what path we are to follow. Some decisions may be easy but others require sacrifices that are very personal and cannot be undone. In the final analysis, can we say it was worth it all? Some might say that we should appreciate all that we are blessed with and there are really no "re-do's" in life. But the one assurance we have is that there will be peace for all of us in the end.
