BOOK REVIEW
By Michael Ernest Sweet

Walking Down Life’s Path
By Barbara Foley

ISBN 978-0-6152-2383-4
pp. 134 (paper)

Barbara Foley takes one for a walk down life’s path quite literally in this debut memoir. Generally speaking, books about one’s life, even when that person is famous or infamous as the case may be, are quite boring. I speak honestly. However, I speak with equal honestly when I say that I quite enjoyed this little volume of stories from the life of one of America’s housewives.

From buying a pet skunk to watching Mission Impossible with her grandmother, Barbara transports us to those times in her life that she simply cannot forget. Although the stories are common enough for us all to identify, they are at once unique enough to warrant their collection in this book.

My favorite chapter, The Park, takes us through an ordinary experience at a local park. The park could be anywhere and the day could be any day and this is why the story is so great. As one reads the chapter the first time there is a suspense that builds as you expect something to ‘happen’. Nothing does. Initially this absence of action causes some disappointment until you sit and think about ‘why’ we need to have something happen. Why can’t we go to the park and enjoy life and the park and then go home. And, if we can enjoy that experience, as many do, why can’t we read about it as a way of reminding us why such moments in life must be treasured? This chapter, and so much of the book, poignantly reminds us that there is no ‘reverse’ in life. We cannot go back, time she will not wait for us… we must live and savor the ordinary.

The book is organized in chapters which stand alone – like portraits or snapshots – each representing a ‘time’ in the authors life hallmarked by an experience which, more often than not, provides us all with a life lesson. These lessons or ‘truths’, which Barbara uncovers, are varied and fall across the spectrum of human experience but, in the end, can be summed up in the popular phrase carpe diem. As Barbara illuminates, however trying life may be at a given point there is a sun on the other side and, in the mean time, take the experience for what it has to offer. We can all learn a lesson from this optimistic yet acknowledging outlook on life.

Walking Down Life’s Path will inspire you to enjoy life’s moments – all of them – and to indeed seize your life and live it to the fullest. The book gives meaning to ideas as grand as the soul, happiness and sadness and the very elixir of life – love. Read and enjoy an extraordinary glimpse into an everyday life that poignantly reminds us to savor the ordinary.

Barbara’s book can be ordered from Lulu Press by clicking here. 

More information about Michael Ernest Sweet can be found by clicking here.