Kwoomac

Story of three adult siblings who come together to visit their mother in the hospital after she has a serious heart attack. It's a wacky family and I was thankful over and over for my (somewhat) less crazy childhood. At times the reminiscing might seem over the top but, in fact, I went to high school with a girl whose family was pretty similar. *Also, see below. Here, the mother gets tired of being a parent, so she "quits" being a mother and spends all her time secluded in her studio, getting high and creating art. The father works long hours, leaving the three kids to raise themselves. My friend's parents were consciously choosing to raise their kids differently from their overly strict upbringing. As a result, the kids had their own apartment in the same building as parents did ( and they never invaded the kids' privacy!). Needless to say, there were some crazy times at the kids' apartment. There was an intercom system connecting the two should the kids need to talk to their parents. They needed to be at dinner every night at the parents', unless they had informed them earlier in the day ( I forget the cutoff time) so they could adjust the amt of food being prepared. That's the only rule I remember!

*While I was reading this, I sometimes felt like there were inconsistencies between the characters as children compared to as adults. After I finished, I read that this was a fairly autobiographical story of the author and her sibs' own childhood.

The title comes from an incident in the narrator's mother's own life. I'm hoping this isn't based on author's mother's own upbringing. Her parents were out drinking in a bar all night and realized they were too drunk to drive home. The next morning they remembered the baby was in the car and had to bring her to the hospital to deal with exposure, as it was winter.The lesson they took away from this disastrous event: drink closer to home! A cast of crazy characters I enjoyed spending some time with.