This book chronicles the author's battle with Stage 3 endometrial cancer. The hope is that the journal will encourage others traveling down a similar path. Through maintaining a sense of humor and embracing resilience, cancer will not defeat, demoralize or diminish those who are faced with battling the disease.
An Extremely Dangerous Piece of Lint is a collection of original short essays (and a few poems) that were written over the course of nearly four decades. Most are reflections on everyday events from an ill-fated bug on the windshield to a bad hair day to making Mistake #82531. These moments give us cause to laugh as well as to think about how we choose to live our lives. Many of these essays explore the challenges and joys of living according to the Unitarian Universalist principles of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth, the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The narrative centers on Diana Warren, a nineteen-year-old grappling with anorexia and bulimia amidst a tumultuous home life marked by dysfunctional parents and a brother with Down syndrome. Her journey of self-discovery is influenced by mythic female role models and rekindled by an Irish racehorse trainer, prompting her to confront her struggles with body image and identity. As she navigates these challenges, Diana faces a critical choice between life and death, complicated further when that decision is unexpectedly removed from her control.
Felice is approaching her final school and finds herself in a state of confusion about many issues in her life - Then she meets Stella, an older woman who is clinically depressed, and Felice gradually unravels the mystery of her illness.