lines on a paper napkin

About the Book

These are my lines on a paper napkin. Napkins are disposable. When no longer useful, we discard them. We too are useful and eventually go away. However, descriptions of past places and unusual and challenging events and funny, risky, and tragic episodes are flotsam that keep our essences in the life current of succeeding generations. This book coheres a riot of random chatter from my life, a life not boring or uninteresting, but a life pulsing with adventures. An examined life full of trials, trauma, fun, frolic, risk, sorrow, silliness, great joy, and worth telling for the inherent lessons. Eventually I’ll forfeit my being; however, by putting my lines in a book, perhaps this life won’t end up in a waste bin so quickly.

About the Author

Once described as an entrepreneurial educator, Gretchen has taught in a variety of contexts for nearly forty years. Born in the legendary Upper Michigan peninsula and raised in Nevada, her home for five decades has been Northern California. Though drawing her small teachers’ retirement, she cannot afford to live in California unless she works. So, she continues to work at a community college where she is a respected and popular teacher to speakers of other languages. Happily single, she plans to spend her last years enjoying her simple life and hopefully publishing her children’s stories.