I've heard it said that for each one of us there is an event in our past which has made us the people we are. Perhaps a teacher believed in you when no one else in your life saw your potential, maybe your parents were divorced when you were six, or maybe you scored a touchdown to win the Homecoming game in high school. While this moment might be the headline story of your life, if pressed you'd probably admit that it wasn't the pep talk or the divorce or the touchdown that changed your life, but the way that you responded to that situation. So it would seem that the big moment doesn't really define us, rather it gives us an opportunity to define ourselves.
As proof of this, I offer Norman Ollestad's book, Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival
, released in paperback earlier this month by Ecco Press. At the age of eleven Ollestad was the only survivor of a plane crash that took the life of his father, but this memoir is about much more than that. While the crash is obviously a pivotal moment in Ollestad's life story (click here for the original television news report on the crash), it's clear that it is just a moment. In his memoir Ollestad explores his childhood growing up on Topanga Beach, the lessons he learned from his father, his relationship with his mother's boyfriend, and --most interestingly -- his emotional and psychological recovery from the plane crash.
Norman was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about his book, his journey, his theories on parenting, and lots more. Enjoy...
