I Know My Way Memoir: Always Remember to Color the Sky Blue

by Theresa Marafito, Linda Odubayo Thompson, Pedro Odubayo Thompson (Editor)

Overview

Who was Theresa Marafito?

Theresa Marafito, daughter of Irish immigrant parents, was born in 1933 in New York City, blind in one eye with partial vision in the other. She was a precocious child who wanted to appear "normal" to her peers and family, regardless of her disability. Her game was to be independent, not dependent and would rarely ask for help.

At nineteen she graduated magna cum laude with two master's degrees. Theresa and her husband Jerry, who was also visually impaired, would build a house on a shoestring budget and had two daughters; one who was also born visually impaired. Despite the laughter and happiness that was ever present in their home and business serving the public, Theresa's marriage was strong enough to endure one operation after another in a desperate attempt to keep her from becoming totally blind, plus the horror of watching her infant daughter's agony of being put under the knife.

In late 1986, Theresa's perfect world came to a crashing halt when her soul mate Jerry lost his life to cancer. She was so devastated that she poured her heart out on an old manual typewriter trying to capture all of her precious memories. It was after her very tragic death in 2008 that the notes were found and became the starting point of this memoir.

Reader Engagement: 396 pages with 55 photos to aid in your reading enjoyment

Contact Co-Author Linda Odubayo Thompson: [e-mail]

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732209602
Publisher:	Linda Odubayo Thompson
Publication date:	10/16/2018
Pages:	398
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

Theresa Marafito graduated magna cum laude from Adelphi College, now a university with two Masters Degrees in History and Special Education. She would teach visually handicapped children prior to her marriage to her soul mate Jerry who was also Partially sighted. They would build a house of love together, raise two children, (the oldest visually impaired herself) and start a business serving the public that would endure over five decades.

Theresa was born blind in one eye and had usable vision in the other. Her main focus was to be considered "normal", no different from anyone else. She had a lifelong fear of becoming totally blind and after every operation, and there were many, her fear became more pronounced.

Still, she had a message to deliver in her memoir to those who are partially-sighted or totally blind. Theresa shows by example that with a little humor and a lot of "guts" nothing in life is impossible. Taking her message one step further, Theresa wanted to show those who are living with visually impaired family members that a normal daily life is indeed possible with some minor adaptations.

Linda Odubayo Thompson, the co-author of her mother's memoir I Know My Way, subtitled always Remember to Color the Sky Blue, has been a professional writer for over ten years. She has adapted a writing style to marry narration with a considerable amount of dialog; all to help her readers feel a part of the conversation rather than just looking in the window watching the action unfolding before them.

I Know My Way is a memoir about Linda's Mother who was born visually handicapped, and would spend a lifetime struggling with operation after operation in a futile attempt not to become totally blind.

In late 1986, Theresa's perfect world came to a crashing halt when her soul mate Jerry lost his life to cancer. Theresa was so devastated that she poured her heart out on an old manual typewriter trying to capture all of her precious memories. It was after her very tragic death in 2008 that the ream of notes were found and became the starting point of her memoir.

Linda feels that she is up to the task of explaining the level of emotion needed to convey the tension at every turn because she is now almost blind herself and lost her first husband to Cancer as well.

Linda has also been a marketing consultant in her first career as an Accountant and Financial Advisor, and has continued in this vein with her copywriting clients in the past ten years. She is confident that marketing strategies that are being put into place before, during and post launch of the memoir I Know My Way, will help make linda a sought after Indie author/book marketer.

Contact Linda: [e-mail]

Pedro Odubayo Thompson, founded a magazine about children in his country of birth and was solely responsible for the quality of all content in his periodical. His attention to detail was meticulous when wearing his Editor hat. He immigrated to the United States in 2010 and married his wife Linda. After becoming a U.S. Citizen he earned his certification as a Copy Editor and would join his wife's writing business. Together they would work hand in hand with each project that they faced. Pedro shares Linda's desire to help people tell their life stories in the form of a memoir or autobiography. Pedro also holds a certification as a Translation Professional- Spanish to English and English to Spanish.
Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

Foreword

Part 1: My Early Years 1933–1945

Part 2: Coming of Age 1945–1948

Part 3: The Apron Strings Become Untied! 1949–1953

Part 4: Love and Marriage 1954–1956

Part 5: Soon the Stork Will Make a Delivery! April 1955–January 3, 1956

Part 6: “There’s No Place like Home!” April 1956–October 10, 1958

Part 7: Memories of an Unusual Play Time Activity! 1958–1963

Part 8: Our “Coming Out” Party in the Community Summer–Fall 1963

Part 9: One Moment in Time Changed My Life Forever! Christmas 1963–Spring 1964

Part 10: Two Weeks Spent at a Special Summer Camp Summer 1964

Part 11: Stand by Your Man! It Happened in the Spring of 1966

Part 12: Hurrah for Us, My Jerry Had the Midas Touch!

The Golden Years Began in 1967

Part 13: Would My Faith in God See Me Through, Yet Again?

The Year of Our Lord, 1970

Part 14: The Four Day Squeeze! Spring–Summer 1971

Part 15: Where There Is Death There Are New Beginnings! 1972–1982

Part 16: 1986, the Year My Perfect World Crashed and Burned!

Would I Ever Recover from This Terrible Loss?

Part 17: Look! There’s a Ray of Sunshine Peeking Through the Storm Clouds! 1987–2002

Part 18: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust March 18, 2008

Afterword

Recognitions

Acknowledgements

About the Co-Author

Editorial Reviews

“Very engaging and a beautiful story.”

Robert W. Bly-Author of over 90 books

“I laughed, I cried and was stunned at the sheer emotion at every turn. It is just so beautifully written.”

Anjali Luland, Psychiatric Social Worker

“It is such a touching story. What an amazing woman! What devotion Jerry and Theresa had to each other and to their children! The author has definitely captured and expressed the gamut of emotions of the story. The author is very descriptive, captivating and down to earth.”

Karen Schlender-Professional Book Editor and Cancer surviver

It is a tremendous story of courage, strength and grit through unimaginable heartache which also exemplified the strength of true love and core family values. The reader could easily extract the wisdom from dozens of teachable moments. This story is as contemporary as it is universal through the ages and relatable to of all who navigate through life's daily struggles.

Pamela Mancini

From the Publisher

2018-10-03

In this posthumous debut memoir, Marafito, with co-author Odubayo Thompson, offers an account of an independent and determined woman who refused to let severely limited eyesight define her.

The author was born in 1933 in the New York City borough of the Bronx. By the time she was 4 years old, she'd undergone numerous surgeries, aimed at saving her sight. Still, one eye remained totally sightless, and the other afforded only minimal vision. Unwilling to be limited by her disability, she quickly learned "the gentle art of bluffing," which built her self-confidence: "As far as I was concerned, no one had to know I couldn't see just like anyone else." With the help of special programs at the city's public schools, and her own drive to succeed, Marafito excelled, entering high school early at the age of 11. She began participating in recreational programs at the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Manhattan; years later, she would meet her future husband, Jerry, there. They would go on to have two children, and eventually, they opened their own business—a newsstand at the Croton Harmon commuter railroad station in Westchester, New York—which they maintained for several decades. Odubayo Thompson is the eldest of Marafito's two daughters, who was also born with partial vision, giving her a unique perspective of the challenges faced by her parents. She crafted this memoir from her mother's extensive notes, discovered after her death. As a result, it's written from Marafito's first-person perspective, including a whimsical account of her own demise. However, it's far more than just an accumulation of the specifics of a life well lived. It offers humorous and poignant anecdotes as it reveals what everyday existence is like for a person with limited vision. For example, here's a description of a walk down Gun Hill Road after a snowstorm: "Curbs and sidewalks were lost in a collage of pink and purple bubbles, and more than once I found myself veering off into the depths of even more treacherous terrain." Family photographs enhance the pleasantly conversational narrative.

An engaging and informative portrait of a visually impaired person's life.

Kirkus Reviews