Riding the Bus with My Sister : A True Life Journey

by Simon, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9780547344843
• ISBN10: 0547344848
• Copyright: 2002-08-26
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Summary

Rachel Simon's sister Beth is a spirited woman who lives intensely and often joyfully. Beth, who has mental retardation, spends her days riding the buses in her Pennsylvania city. The drivers, a lively group, are her mentors; her fellow passengers are her community. One day, Beth asked Rachel to accompany her on the buses for an entire year. This wise, funny, deeply affecting book is the chronicle of that remarkable time. Rachel, a writer and college teacher whose hyperbusy life camouflaged her emotional isolation, had much to learn in her sister's extraordinary world. These are life lessons from which every reader can profit: how to live in the moment, how to pay attention to what really matters, how to change, how to love--and how to slow down and enjoy the ride. Elegantly woven throughout the odyssey are riveting memories of terrifying maternal abandonment, fierce sisterly loyalty, and astonishing forgiveness. Rachel Simon brings to light the almost invisible world of mental retardation, finds unlikely heroes in everyday life, and, without sentimentality, portrays Beth as the endearing, feisty, independent person she is. This heartwarming book about the unbreakable bond between two very different sisters takes the reader on an inspirational journey at once unique and universal.

Table of Contents

January The Journey	p. 1
The Time of Snows and Sorrow	p. 21
February Hitting the Road	p. 27
The Professor	p. 31
Fighting	p. 42
March The Pilgrim	p. 49
Streetwise	p. 58
Into Out There	p. 67
April The Dreamer	p. 81
The Drivers' Room	p. 88
The End of Play	p. 96
May Lunch with Jesse	p. 107
Matchmaker	p. 123
The Pursuit of Happiness	p. 127
June The Earth Mother	p. 133
Disabilities	p. 141
Goodbye	p. 152
July The Optimist	p. 157
Break Shot	p. 168
Gone	p. 171
August The Loner	p. 175
Nowhere	p. 189
Be Not Afraid	p. 190
Inside the Tears	p. 195
September The Jester	p. 201
Surgery	p. 209
Releasing the Rebel	p. 216
October The Hunk	p. 225
The Price of Being Human	p. 233
Come Home, Little Girl	p. 238
November The Girlfriend	p. 247
The Eighteenth Hole	p. 252
December Swans and Witches	p. 265
Finding the Twin	p. 272
Iz Gonna Be All Right	p. 275
January Beyond the Limits of the Sky	p. 279
A Year and a Half Later The Miracle Maker	p. 291
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.