Shards of Glass

Because her family constantly had to flee the repercussions of her father's gambling addiction, Francine Glasser was consigned to a childhood devoid of connection and marked by loss after loss of everything she cherished. Friends, relatives, pets, and possessions were left behind each time her family ran from debt collectors, sometimes in the middle of the night, and left town for yet another hopeless new start. For Francine, painful memories of those rootless years were like the fragments of color, light, and darkness in a kaleidoscope. But years later, clinging to her love for the father responsible for her lost childhood, those shards of glass would reorganize into patterns of forgiveness, stability, beauty, and peace.
This book was conceived long ago, because Francine had always wanted to tell the story of her search for a forever home. Years later, as a practicing psychotherapist and social worker her life was invested in hearing the stories and traumas of those whom she counseled and helped make peace with their past. In this book, Francine has sought to make peace with her own past by introducing readers to all the important people, places, and things in her life on the run. Today, she is home at last, yet struggling with symptoms of Agoraphobia. The pieces of a child's shattered life, as seen through the metaphor of a kaleidoscope, have finally come together to complete this part of her story.