With(out) Dignity: A memoir of family, Italian tradition and purpose

is about how my mother, who died five weeks before my wedding from lung cancer, impacted her children and husband through sacrifice, conviction and life lessons. Her daughter is about to get married and lives on the other side of the country. Her husband is wrestling with guilt and his current enemy, Father Time. Her son is silently navigating his emotions until one day he explodes. Meanwhile, all Sylvia wants to do is leave this world with a little dignity and, for the first time, has to lean on her family to help her.

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The partial sample chapter below is one of my favorites and illustrates how my mother who obsessed about protecting us, guided me to eat my first candy bar after 11 years of being allergic.

Click here to read a sample from this memoir.