My Life in a Nutshell

About the Book

These poems are about my life and trying to keep it together as a mother, wife, business partner, and as a woman coming down with mental illness. This mental illness happened to me at the same age my mom came down with it (around the age of thirty years.) The illness did not allow my mom to work and she became homeless for eight years of my childhood. After years of caring for her when I was a child, now I was in her same shoes and felt the cold breathing down my back as my mom did when she was sent to the woods! Can I hold it together to raise my children? Can I make a living without my children’s father whom left me because I was mentally ill? How can I now care for my children with my illness that could leave them parentless? Oh, how I worry that they will not have the necessities that life requires…. But most importantly will they end up with the same illness as I?

About the Author

Hi my name is Shelly V Vondra. I am a mother of three children, now grown into teenagers. I love being able to write poetry, and this is my second book that I have been able to share. I suffer from mental illness and I started to write poetry to use as an outlet to feel better. Now I am sharing it with others in hopes that one day it will be viewed as more than just jumbled words. I have many ideas and wish to teach that any adult or child can benefit from the power of poetry. I hope you enjoy my work. Thank you for reading.