Overview

Step into the ever-changing life of a busy southern woman as she recounts day-to-day living with humor and vivid detail. As a former guidance counselor turned writer, Lisa Batten Kunkleman's book Just Because I Used to Could...Life Stories and Beyond features wise, witty, and heart-felt stories that are reminiscent of Erma Bombeck's personal essays. Included in the collection are award winning essays Rest In Peace, a story about a toad funeral with a surprise ending, and, I Cry at Everything, which is not only accurate, but also humorous and self explanatory. Among the forty-eight tales, additional topics include: -Large families: Parenting triplets plus one more -Chewing ugly smoothies, growing muffin tops, and making the most of mammograms -Motherhood, empty nest, and pet overload -Hot flashes, turkey necks, and midlife living -Hurricanes, gators, and mayflies, oh my -The good old days of tanning and carefree living -Mom's wisdom, memory hacks, and senior moments -Realization that just because I used to could, doesn't mean I should. Lisa has been a contributor to NPR and has oodles of untold narratives inside her head. Come up on the front porch, park in a rocking chair, and enjoy some story-swapping. Want to talk about gluten allergies, aching knees, or raising invincible kids? Need to commiserate with someone who's been there or need a shoulder to cry on? Just Because I Used To Could...Life Stories and Beyond will make you smile and maybe even start writing down some Life Stories of your own.

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9781733152501

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Reviews

Lisa Batten Kunkleman is the neighbor we all wish we had. The coffeepot is on and, despite her crazy full life, she's got all the time in the world to laugh with us about crow's feet, turkey necks, and hot flashes, to commiserate about gluten allergies and insect invasions, to swap stories about raising invincible kids--and to be a shoulder when you need one to cry on. Reading the wise, witty, and heart-felt stories in Just Because I Used To Could...Life Stories and Beyond will make you smile. And maybe even start writing down some life stories and beyond of your own. --Maureen Ryan Griffin, writing instructor and author of Spinning Words into Gold If Erma Bombeck had grown up in a small hometown like Whiteville, in eastern North Carolina, moved to a farm in Charlotte, been a middle school guidance counselor, raised a daughter and a set of triplets with her husband, she might have written a book very similar to Just Because I Used To Could...Life Stories and Beyond. While reading, I felt as if I were rocking on my front porch with Lisa Batten Kunkleman by my side telling me her tales. Home is where the heart is and this book will bring you home. A must read! --Kathy Thorson Gruhn, author of Drug Tested for Being Happy

Author Information

Lisa Batten Kunkleman, from Whiteville, a small North Carolina town, now lives outside the big city of Charlotte. A lifelong journal-keeper, history-lover, and amateur genealogist, Lisa feels compelled to write life stories. As a former guidance counselor and mother of four grown kids, three of which are triplets, and new grandmother of one irresistible little boy, Lisa is convinced that all of us have stories worth sharing. Her non-fiction work, a mix of serious and humorous tales, has been published in a variety of magazines and newspapers, and shared on NPR. Lisa's children were thrilled to see she really was a writer when she won two non-fiction awards through the Charlotte Writers' Club and stood at the podium reading those pieces. She enjoys entertaining, enlightening, and engaging with readers through her blog, Lifestoriesandbeyond.com. With the triplets finishing college and their oldest daughter and son-in-law starting their own family, Lisa and her husband, Dan, are getting reacquainted in their emptied nest. They're catching up on more than three decades of to-do items stored on the back burner and in their barns. They'll live on lake time, with or without a lake, as often as possible, and plan to travel when pet sitters are available for their farm full of dogs, cats, and horses. Lisa's looking forward to continuing to chronicle and share her own Life Stories and Beyond since every day is made up of new stories.

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