A Tap Water Girl in a Bottled Water World

Shirley Garrett has written a book that is a delight to read. It was like reading her diary while reliving my own similar memories of growing up in the south during a slower-paced time. But don't be fooled by Shirley's light-hearted look at her past. She has given us not only the gift of writing the book, but the gift a life lesson in every chapter. While having deep feelings about being left by her mother and being adopted have left scars, Shirley doesn't dwell on those feelings. What she does do in Tap Water Girl is demonstrate that anyone, can with love and caring, grow into someone who contributes to others, to life and the community. Shirley shows us how to appreciate what we have, how to love family and friends and best of all, how to gain internal fortitude, overcome life's heartache and disappointments and do it with style and grace. She teaches us that being ourselves is indeed enough. ~~Diane Bogino, author of Finding Your Bootstraps: 11 Steps to Overcoming Victim Thinking.

This book is simply wonderful. It will cause tears of laughter and of joy! If you were born in the late forties or fifties you will relate to this book. It reminds me of the carefree days of my youth and helps me to relive them with a new perspective. It also reminds me that the most important thing in life, aren't things!!!

I had the most marvelous luck in meeting Shirley Garrett, the author of this wonderful autobiography a couple of weeks ago. Our husbands were competing against each other at (where else?) a tennis tournament in Calloway Gardens. We discovered many coincidences in our lives--our love of books, our educator families and the fact that both of us had been teachers. When she told me she had written a book, I was instantly intrigued. I became overjoyed when she mentioned she had a copy in her car; she sent her adorable granddaughter (pictured on the cover) to fetch a copy that she graciously inscribed. What made reading this autobiography so much more fun was the fact that Shirley and I are the same age so reading about trends, fashions--even blue horse trading stamps brought back a flood of delicious memories! Shirley has written the story of her life through lovely little vignettes, many with life lessons. Her's was a life that started hard. Left in an orphanage with her siblings by an ill-equipped foreign mother, Shirley and her sister were eventually adopted by fabulous, loving parents. Another family also adopted her brothers. Her life was filled with a multitude of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who shaped her into the successful woman she is today. I was in awe as I read how, as a young woman, she put her own life on hold to take care of her sick parents during a time that spanned decades. And naturally, since the story takes place in Georgia, we sit at the table with her as she partakes in fried chicken, peas, biscuits, banana pudding and of course, tomatoes (all staples of good southern cooking). As a fellow southerner, my mouth watered during every meal! I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. The chapters are short and very sweet. Even during difficult periods in Ms. Garrett's life, we never become too sad or depressed because we know this gallant woman has the ability to dodge any curve ball thrown at her. One thing that I loved about this book is going to the author's webpage: [...] and reading the answers to questions I had when I completed the book. And, the best thing was looking at the pictures of the people she so poignantly wrote about.

If you are looking to recapture stories about yourself trying to grow up, this book is as fresh as spring water. Shirley Garrett writes like a true southern girl -- simple, clear, humorous, mysterious, and a little flirty. Garrett's style is so unassuming that before you know it, you think she is writing about you! What southern boy or girl didn't drink peanut Colas (or Frito too!)? have an aunt Audie, or feel totally self-conscious about their looks? We all remember eggs and cheese, peach ice cream (only fresh peaches) and tomato sandwiches when the tomatoes were still warm from hanging on the vine in the hot sun. But Tap Water Girl is about more than childhood memories, though plenty of them fill every page. More importantly, it is a book about the struggle we all have to be genuine --as children and as adults. This struggle is seen in the challenges that Garrett faced throughout her life, from growing up an orphan, to a misbegotten marriage, and perhaps most difficult, taking care of and finally burying her parents. In it all, we, like Garrett, have to find our true selves -- that tap water person! Garrett writes very well. I recommend this book for children as well as adults, mainly because of the writing style. It provides children with creative imagination that stimulates their own. Garrett reminds me of Ferrol Sams, who writes in a very similar fashion. Like Sams, Garrett punches through the veneers of life to find reasons to believe in ourselves and others. Tap Water Girl is not a trite effort. In a world that is defined by plastic, temporary, and "virtual" reality, Garrett offers a reprieve into the real, the permanent and most importantly-- She drives home the essential need for deep, trusting relationships for all of us.