The Kids are Gone, The Dog is Depressed & Mom's on the Loose (Hardcover)

by Shelley Fraser Mickle (Author) "My dog is depressed..." (more)
Key Phrases: Cedar Key, Benjamin Franklin, Willie Mae (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Each piece is humorous, yet the core of her stories illuminate some basic aspect of the human condition. -- Henri Pensis - WUFT Station Mangager

This book is a bedshaker. Stifling my laughter causes body-quakes, sending major shockwaves to the other side of the mattress. -- Gary Kirkland - The Gainesville Sun, June 17, 2000

Product Description
These semi-autobiographical vignettes humorously prove that not only can you go home again; you've never really left. Mom's on the Loose chronicles everyday life events that continue to influence the person we keep reinventing ourselves into.

This collection of delightful essays share events from Shelley's youth in Arkansas, such as the day the Thanksgiving football game ends in a knockout; her stint as a transplanted southerner; her days as a homeroom mother, including the one when she is stopped by a police officer for speeding the party cupcakes to school; as well as the unfogettable day that the snake shows up at the family room window.

After many years, she is finally free to pursue her own wishes and desires, yet her life experiences are never far from the core of whom she was, and whom she has become.

Only now does she have the time to appreciate the mundane yet sometime quirky events that take place in our everyday lives which leads to answering the question, "Just what exactly does one do when the kids finally grow up, move out and the dog is lying under the grand piano, depressed?"

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Alachua Press Inc. (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967278813
• ISBN-13: 978-0967278810
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,675,717 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mother looks at life without children, July 30, 2000

By	John B. Pickard (Gainesville, Florida) - See all my reviews

These essays focus on the mudane,but wildly humorous world of a mom whose kids have gone and whose dog is depressed. The first essay, Blue Dog, is typical as the author tries to placate a household pet who misses his usual outings with two schoolchildren, now off to college. She recounts her adventures in surviving halloween parties, school programs and buying a first suit for her son. A group of the essays deal with her childhood in a small Arkansas cotton town where everyone is related to someome else and being constantly asked "You're Whose?"

My favorite essay is called "Long Distance Christmas." Here Ms Mickle describes correspondence with an Arkansas grandmother who condense down all her communications to a few cryptic words like an Xmas call that went: " Saturday. Pecans. Fruitcake. And Metholatum." Translated that meant the grandmother would arrive on Saturday, bringing a sack of pecans and a fruitcake and that she had a cold. Once she called her granddaugher then living in Boston and said" "Bare bark. Horseraddish. Mincemeat. And get home." So her grandmother was telling her that all the trees in the yard had lost leaves; that she had some fine shrimp and was making horseraddish suace to dip them in; that she was baking a mincemeat pie; and that she missed her granddaughter.

All of them are funny and touching and filled with a warm wisdom that comes from loving life and the people that surround you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One long belly laugh, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

I don't think there is a mother alive who wouldn't identify with most of these stories. They are hilarious and touching at the same time. The pictures were a great addition.

Maybe it's a southern thing, but I recognized her relatives in these essays. As a matter of fact, I think we must be related in some distant way.

When I was done with this book, I felt that there is hope of getting through motherhood with my mental capabilities intact even if they leave me from time-to-time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Mother's Day Gift!, April 21, 2001

By A Customer

This book would make a terrific gift for Mom on any day. Any mother can see herself in the funny observations of life that Shelley Mickle has presented.

It made me laugh outloud repeatedly!!