Road Trip of Love: Tales of a Texas Jew Girl

The Road Trip of Love creates a colorful bridge of connecting generations. This is a story of a life set against the background of a Jewish / Dallas heritage in all its conflicting nature. Charlie is raised in a family where the women are the guiding light and a great source of mysticism. Through the strong American metaphor of "The Road Trip" as a lifeline, this book takes Charlie from her childhood in Texas, into womanhood, to middle age. Fast cars and Texas highways were the courtship of Charlie's parents - Buck and Dorothy, and a clue to her theory; that who we are, is set at the moment of conception. She comes to believe that she is a genetic product of her parents unfished love story that has been passed on to her to complete, in order that her spirit and future spirits be set free. Sooner or later all of us in this puzzle piece of family genetics and relations will have to stop the madness, and walk the walk for the next generations and those that are at rest. Through the fine choreography of the perfect Road Trip where anything is possible, you are never lost - for you are between heaven and earth, and there is always a solution. This philosophy is put to the ultimate test in the passages of daily life when she finds herself the last one standing - stripped of family, friends, home and identity. "We will never know what our kinship with death will be, or how much grace we can muster as we meet the many faces of transition. I knew without a doubt that Death was my teacher and I was one of the lucky ones being guided in a gentle way with each leaving, with each transition, to life as it is. For Death is a door to an open heart and deeper presence." - writes Ms. Buchanan Road Trip of Love is filled with a variety of interesting characters. It is hilarious, insightful and a poignant ride in the exploration of love. Its coming home through the lessons of the detours that life hands you, and the various forks in the road that one chooses. This is an essential read for anyone who has experienced love, death and parents, and still believes in the power of love. "I laughed, I cried, I came to understand her more. She is a philosopher with a pen drawing a line through life's maze, in the end finding family, friends, herself and love. It is the everyday miracle of simple joy. I feel like I've been through her family album, her closet and her panty drawer. - Gordon Bradford