Storms on the Sea of Tranquility ─ A Foster Child's Journey

In times past those suffering from cyclical dementia were frequently referred to as suffering from "lunar madness." The book's title, Storms on the Sea of Tranquility is an allusion to that practice. The Sea of Tranquility is of course a geographical feature of our moon. Ironically, those suffering from lunar madness frequently lived a pattern of near normal tranquility that was interrupted cyclically by angry storms of manic madness or deep depression. The book follows the life of a young lady, one Mae Bailey as she struggles with an untreated mental illness. Her family, like most families of the 1950's feared the stigma that a mentally ill family member might bring upon them. They failed to acknowledge her disease and instead covered up her irrational behavior in her manic cycles and the deep depression that also often followed. Ultimately, Mae ends up deserted by both of the men who have fathered her children. Alone and very troubled she and her children enter the welfare system. As she slides deeper into alcoholism, prostitution and a life plagued by mental illness she loses her children to foster care. The book follows the journey that her children travel as they go through the foster care system. It chronicles the difficulties for both the foster children and their foster parents as they travel the difficult path of foster care. The story tells of the heart wrenching separation of the children as two of them are adopted and the other left to survive in the system until he is grown. The book celebrates those more noble among us who reach out to intervene in the life of those most vulnerable among us, foster children. Although fictionalized, the experiences of the book are real life experiences, experienced by the author.