Beyond Surviving is the memoir of a California native daughter. Born in the South Bay of Los Angeles at the end of WWII, and raised in the Mojave Desert, I returned to Los Angeles to study at my mother's alma mater, UCLA during the early 1960's, a period of hope, change and a challenge to the status quo. Ready to jump out of school and into life, I got a job at a bank in Beverly Hills and met the man of my dreams, tall, good looking, intelligent, fun and very charismatic. After 4 years of dating, I finally married him, not realizing that my life would change in ways I never imagined. After 20 years together, my life had turned into a series of desertions and I decided to take my son and leave him. He turned on the charm and begged for a second chance. Believing the marriage vows I took, I stayed to work things out. That's when it all descended into Hell!
