Remember to Forget, a gripping and thought-provoking memoir that inspires as it teaches with all the skillful pacing of a psychological suspense novel. The author asks then suggests: What weapons do we have to defend ourselves against deeply hidden assaults from the past? Without the fragments of memory linked together into a full picture of our personal history, we may remain helpless victims. Sex permeates Vernetta's traumatic young life while living with her single mother and older sister. The chaos of life with Mother and her alcohol-fueled anger emerges in Vernetta's adult years as a suicidal-depression that propels her into therapy where conflicted personality fragments introduce themselves. Within months, dissociated-forgotten memories of sexual trauma are manifested by severe, incapacitating physical experiences. Throughout her life, Vernetta manages to continue the relationship with her mother. Then after Mother's death, Vernetta is motivated to search for answers to lingering-mystifying questions, her final pathway to wellness. Why did Mother deliberately burn down her family home at age fifteen? she asks herself. What is the truth of why baby brother Buddy was suddenly gone? And the last relentless question, Why was Mother so angry? Although the search plunges Vernetta into Mother's murky past, the difficult answers bring restorative healing.
