Unwritten Paths: Why she survived before she knew how.

By Lakeisha S Ruggiero

Some lives are carefully planned. Others are survived one decision at a time. Unwritten Paths is the memoir-inspired story of Lola - a girl who lost her mother to AIDS at the age of three, grew up inside the silence of addiction and neglect, survived abuse no child should ever carry, and still found a way to become a woman of intention, healing, and strength. From the hospitals of 1995 to the streets of Sanford, Florida, from courtrooms and loss to motherhood and self-discovery - this is a story about what happens when no one leaves you a map. When love disappears too soon. When the people who were supposed to protect you couldn't protect themselves. When the only path forward is the one you have to write yourself. This book does not look away. It walks through grief and forgiveness. Through cycles inherited and patterns broken. Through the loneliness of raising a child alone at eighteen with no safety net and no one coming to save you. Through the slow, quiet, unglamorous work of choosing differently - not because it is easy, but because the next generation is watching. Unwritten Paths is for every woman who has had to grow up too fast. For every child who carried questions no adult would answer. For every family touched by HIV and AIDS whose loss was real but whose story was silenced. For every person who survived something they were never supposed to survive - and is still trying to figure out what comes next. This is not just a story about pain. It is a story about becoming. What ends with me begins differently for her.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GXBQTW8J
• ISBN13: 9798257462931
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 78 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"