In Progress: The Half Life [a nonfiction narrative collision]
The Half Life is a narrative collision, knitting two narrative threads, one half a young woman finding footing on a ranch, and the other half a rural supermom navigating new roles of motherhood and rural isolation. One person, two stories, both coming of age, split by time, place, and knowledge. Both investigate place to find belonging, the journey to embrace self and new roles, and move towards feeling alive.
A past Annie, recent high school graduate, rejected by five colleges, flees to a rural sheep station in Australia to ride horses and herd sheep on a two-thousand-acre, drought-ravaged farm. The future Annie navigates life with three young children, runs a small business, builds a house, competes horses, cares for a small farm of horses, goats, chickens, gardens. She was a rural supermom, until it all unravels. Her husband disappears, the pinnacle of his downward spiral into alcoholism. She must take stock of the choices she had made and the life she was now living. Life had bounced off track. She searches to find control and meaning.
She finds meaning in a past adventure that offers a courageous version of herself. Harrowing falls off horses, hitting bottom in a marriage are leveling forces: "it's the moment when we decide how we will rise again." Horses are a survival mechanism, and place creates sanctuary, although the journey is about finding home. Part recovery journey, part adventure, this memoir asks, where do I belong? And how can I endure life's devastating challenges?
The Half Life confronts the collateral damage of addiction, the challenge to evolve our self through the stages of life, and the expectations of a family. Reclaiming a past adventure to help stitch a fragmented self whole. Two types of coming of age: Both celebrate the natural world, the ability of wildness to restore, the enduring impact of love, and the power of belonging.
A past Annie, recent high school graduate, rejected by five colleges, flees to a rural sheep station in Australia to ride horses and herd sheep on a two-thousand-acre, drought-ravaged farm. The future Annie navigates life with three young children, runs a small business, builds a house, competes horses, cares for a small farm of horses, goats, chickens, gardens. She was a rural supermom, until it all unravels. Her husband disappears, the pinnacle of his downward spiral into alcoholism. She must take stock of the choices she had made and the life she was now living. Life had bounced off track. She searches to find control and meaning.
She finds meaning in a past adventure that offers a courageous version of herself. Harrowing falls off horses, hitting bottom in a marriage are leveling forces: "it's the moment when we decide how we will rise again." Horses are a survival mechanism, and place creates sanctuary, although the journey is about finding home. Part recovery journey, part adventure, this memoir asks, where do I belong? And how can I endure life's devastating challenges?
The Half Life confronts the collateral damage of addiction, the challenge to evolve our self through the stages of life, and the expectations of a family. Reclaiming a past adventure to help stitch a fragmented self whole. Two types of coming of age: Both celebrate the natural world, the ability of wildness to restore, the enduring impact of love, and the power of belonging.