All for the sake of a parrot...& some sanity : Stories of new and old romance

We all have our weird set of uncles and cousins and grandparents and siblings. In childhood we rued our fate but as an aspiring writer I find they are worth their weight in gold. How many happy moments they have given me as I sit to write a story! They all come rushing at me in a bunch jostling for space. I have had friends begging to be included in stories little knowing what dark pictures I would paint. My dysfunctional family and my chosen friends came in very useful. They provided me tons and tons of material enough to fill a whole book. I am truly grateful for this. I hope I get to hear more live more and write more. I belong to this set of people and identify with each and every one of them. These stories I have lived through and they have been my life...sometimes scary sometimes bringing hope and sometimes simply evoking memories of long forgotten times. They are of me and of lives I have seen and lived. There are of course large elements of fiction in this collection and yet they are rooted in reality.  They are what have shaped me.