A Mostly True Memoir

By Gina Hollis

This is the story of my life from earliest conscious memories to the present. I was the oldest of nine children raised in Festus, Missouri, a small town located thirty miles south of St. Louis. My parents are still living. I have attempted to show how our lives have changed as we have aged.I hope I have portrayed my siblings with honesty and kindness. Did we always get along while growing up? No! Sometimes we fought, as do most brothers and sisters. Are we all still close in adulthood? Most of us are friendlier with siblings closer to our own ages or with those who live nearby. My two sisters live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Five of my brothers live in small towns near where we grew up, and they see each other regularly. My brother Vincent lives on St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I live in Florida, and I visit when I can.We don't have big family get-togethers or reunions like some of our cousins' families. Many of us have grandchildren or great-grandchildren who occupy our time. We see each other at funerals and we talk on the phone, but we are pretty scattered. Gerard, John, Vincent and Paul are still working full-time. The rest of us are retired or semi-retired. We travel or have other interests. Divorce often changes family dynamics. It has been said that every child in a family has different parents. I believe this to be true since some of my siblings had a very different relationship with our mom and our dad than I did. The stories in this memoir are my own perspective of growing up as the oldest of nine children in a small town in Missouri. My memories may not jibe with those of my siblings who grew up during a different time period. I hope they get a few laughs out of my book and a jolt to their own childhood memories of growing up as part of a large family This is a mostly true memoir, as far as I can recall.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1790624517
• ISBN13: 9781790624515
• Release Date: December 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"