I Know My Way Memoir

Always Remember to Color the Sky Blue

By: Theresa Marafito, Linda Odubayo Thompson

Narrated by: Rita Pardue

Who was Theresa Marafito?

Theresa Marafito, daughter of Irish immigrant parents, was born in 1933 in New York City, blind in one eye with partial vision in the other. She was a precocious child who wanted to appear “normal” to her peers and family, regardless of her disability. Her game was to be independent, not dependent, and would rarely ask for help.

At 19, she graduated magna cum laude with two master’s degrees. Theresa and her husband, Jerry, who was also visually impaired, would build a house on a shoestring budget and had two daughters; one who was also born visually impaired. Despite the laughter and happiness that was ever present in their home and business serving the public, Theresa’s marriage was strong enough to endure one operation after another in a desperate attempt to keep her from becoming totally blind, plus the horror of watching her infant daughter’s agony of being put under the knife.

In late 1986, Theresa’s perfect world came to a crashing halt when her soul mate, Jerry, lost his life to cancer. She was so devastated that she poured her heart out on an old manual typewriter trying to capture all of her precious memories. It was after her very tragic death in 2008 that the notes were found and became the starting point of this memoir.

As a writer, Linda knew it would be a great pleasure to capture the essence of her mother’s life in this memoir and help the sighted world to have a better understanding about the everyday existence of a normal suburban family with the added difficulties of several members being visually impaired. Linda feels that she is up to the task of explaining the level of emotion needed to convey the tension at every turn because she is now almost blind herself and lost her first husband to cancer as well.

Author contact: [e-mail]

©2018 Linda Odubayo Thompson (P)2018 Linda Odubayo Thompson

Charm Met Adversity and won

An Incredible account of authentic optimism overcoming challenge, in spite of blindness and visual impairment adding to life’s agility course. This book’s authentic charm made me laugh one minute and put my heart up in my throat the next. I found myself envying Jerry for his ability to man-up, shrug setbacks off with a smile, and carry a never ending hope, and Theresa’s ability to reach into bottomless pockets full of strength, pushing through adversity.
If you want an “over the shoulder” view of rising to true life situations, presented in an authentic story, void of hype and over dramatization, where grinding down setbacks are met with hope, optimism, and a charming laughter for your own life application… This book is for you.