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Hi, I’m a life story junkie. I look for people whose words are compelling and have the ring of truth. That’s why I’m thrilled to recommend Leaving Linda by Bob Gauper for its combination of interesting storytelling and authenticity.
From the time of his parents’ coming of age in semi-rural canoe country Minnesota, in the chilly north woods a few miles south of Canada, his father and mother migrated to where the work was for surveying and public works jobs that took them to Idaho, Washington State and into northern California to a little bitty town called Linda.
Linda has a feature in common with every other small town in America. It’s relatively safe and, temporary insanities aside, predictable. It seems to an outsider to be idyllic, Norman Rockwellian. But when you’re growing up in this mom and dad America, you can’t wait to graduate high school and put your hometown squarely in the rearview mirror.
Unless we were really sheltered growing up, most of us did some dumb stuff and took a few chances that could have gotten us killed. Jumping off a high cliff into unknown water comes to mind. But those are the extremes, and most of the time we recall our adventures with fondness – hitchhiking, putting up with shop-lifting con artist roommates; getting chased by a drunk with a broken beer bottle for selling flowers in a bar, to raise money for his church. You know, the usual.
Bob’s disillusionment with a rootless life working in Las Vegas casinos exposed an emptiness that led to an epic search for deeper meaning. Epic searches for truth eventually bring you to that fork in the road which, in one direction, leads to a normal life, “picket fence and nine to five” as Bob writes, and maybe love. Or down the other road to God knows where. Literally.
There’s a great deal of thoughtfulness in Bob’s story. That comes partly with age and introspection, and also with having a fierce sense of purpose and the determination to work through life’s distractions, sidetracks, and bad choices (of which they are legion and familiar to all) to end up being married to the love of his life and to have made and raised a family with Maree (a Kiwi) and their children.
The writing in this book is descriptive and highly relatable. There were times I saw myself painted into the tapestries he weaves. I know that’s happening when I find myself reading the dialogue aloud. And some parts are damned funny.
A well-rendered warts-and-all memoir is hard to come by. But it’s here in these pages, and that’s why you should read it. This is a fine tale, factual, and enhanced with photos and illustrations by Maree. Welcome to an honest account of a man’s life, told in a way that sets a high bar for the telling of one’s own story.
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Bob Gauper’s new memoir, Leaving Linda, can be purchased on Amazon.com.