off-script: a mom's journey through adoption, a husband's alcoholism, and special needs parenting (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798985184709)

Many girls fantasize about their futures: a loving family, dream job, and a house with a white picket fence. These dreams often turn into expectations for "happily ever after."

For Valerie Cantella, childhood hopes of a soul mate, children, and a fulfilling career turned into a script ... written and edited to perfection. But life didn't follow her plan. No matter how hard she tried.

Over the next twenty years, life unraveled. A lifelong battle with Type 1 diabetes, the unfolding trauma of mental health crises with a special needs adopted daughter, and her husband's struggle with alcoholism shattered her childhood dreams. And nearly crushed her.

Nearly.

But sometimes, an off-script journey takes you through the unimaginable to where you were meant to be all along-amid hope and healing.