This is the story about the glory and agony of Growing Up Weird, having a patchwork childhood spanning three continents with airplane flights and the struggle of adjusting to restrooms in foreign cultures. Trips back home to America to visit extended family offer no quarter from her ragtag life. There are the grandparents who can't get through a day without bickering, the great-grandmother whose pants fall down in public, but who never gets embarrassed, and Aunt Pauline, one of very few female motorcycle gang members from the 1950s. Along with the odd people come tales of strange animals including a neurotic French poodle, a farm full of snakes, and a homosexual puppy. There is humor and trauma, but the whole adventure is wrapped in love and compassion as Ann comes to understand the reasons for her seemingly bizarre life and why she is thankful for it all…especially her catalogue of jokes that cannot be told in polite company.
