off-script: a mom's journey through adoption, a husband's alcoholism and special needs parenting

This memoir is for:parents of special needs childrenparents of teens struggling with mental health issuesadoptive parentsspouses of alcoholicsand anyone for whom life didn't go as planned.A young girl dreams of the perfect life—marriage, children, and a career—her happily ever after. When a life-threatening medical condition, an alcoholic husband, and a traumatic special needs adoption shatter that dream, there are only two choices—crumble or change the narrative. Valerie learned to embrace the unimaginable to create an extraordinary life.EMBRACE THE UNIMAGINABLE TO FIND HOPE & HEALINGMany girls fantasize about their futures: a loving family, dream job, and a house with a white picket fence. These dreams often turn into expectations for “happily ever after.”For Valerie Cantella, childhood hopes of a soul mate, children, and a fulfilling career turned into a script … written and edited to perfection. But life didn’t follow her plan. No matter how hard she tried to make it.Over the next twenty years, life unraveled. A lifelong battle with Type 1 diabetes, the unfolding trauma of mental health crises with a special needs adopted daughter, and her husband’s struggle with alcoholism shattered her childhood dreams. And nearly crushed her.Nearly.But sometimes, an off-script journey takes you through the unimaginable to where you were meant to be all along—amid hope and healing.Read more