Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140369 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From the Author
How I remember Teresa
My name is Sölvína and I am a recovering alcoholic. In the 90´s I was linving in Minnesota, I sometimes went to AA meetings in Madison Wi. there I meet teresa. We did not get to know one another very well then. But we were aquinted. I admired her sweet disposition and calmness but also hers humor and boldness. In 1992 we meest again, at Hazelden MN. At that time she was terribly sick, she had changed totally. We had four or five days togeather at that time. Then she told me what had happened to her since we last saw each other in 1986. After that she wrote to me several times, but I had a hard time gettiing any messega to her, since she never stayed very long in the same place. I was very moved when I read this book. Her father tells her story so truthfully and honestly. I have never read any other book about an alcoholic that is so true. When I and teresa stayed togeather at Hazelden she recited a poem to me, which I wrote up. I never knew if she had written it or someone else.
Slowly she celebrated the scrament of letting go
First she surrended her green
then the orange, yellow and red
finally she let go of her brown
shedding her last leaf
she stood empty and silent stripped bare
she began her vigil of trust
shedding her last leaf
she watched its journey to the ground
she stood in silence
Wearing the color of emptyness
her branches wondering
How do you give shade with so much gone? and then
the scarament of waiting began
the sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness
clothing her sihouettes
they kept her hope alive
they helped her ubderstand that her vulnerability
her dependence and need, her emptiness
her readiness to recieve
were giving her a new kind of beauty
Every morning and every evening they stood in silence
and celebrated togeather
the sarcament of waiting.
today I feel that this poem is about Teresa´s life and death.>BR> Teresa was a wonderful person, but she did not know it.

Customer Reviews

RIVETING READING, GAVE ME COLD HANDS AND DRY MOUTH!
Seldom have I read a book about a real person that held me inmy chair for such a long time. I had heard about Terry Mcgovern butnever knew the real story. This first hand account of Terry Mcgovern's life is tough to read. George Mcgovern's account of his daughters life had the right mixture of pathos and humor and made me think about alcoholism in a totally different light. GREAT!

Moving account of alcoholism
I am a recovering alcoholic and i found this a brilliant book. The author/father of Terry, writes beautifully and honestly. His insight into the illness is totally accurate. Terry's struggle is agonising to read but clearly outlines what a powerful disease this is. I only wish it had had a happy ending, but i'm sure it was cathartic for George to get his feelings down on paper. This is a "family illness" but only the alcoholic can achieve sobriety, there is nothing a family can do.It hurt to read George's thoughts of where he felt he had gone wrong. This is a perfect read for any family member of an alcoholic.

Painful
It is really emotionally hard to read George McGovern's anguished account. This guy must have still been in deep torment when he penned it. Page after page you see him struggle for answers...he must spend many a day reviewing his own actions to see if there was anything hee could have done different. Lots of parents write books about their deceased children, but this one is just so honest that I could not put it down...literally. I picked it up after dinner and finished it at 4:30 the next morning.