Not How It Was Supposed to Be

The world wasn't ready for Gloria Saylor.

But God was.

The day beautiful green-eyed Gloria came into the world a storm was brewing both off the Texas coast and in her dysfunctional home. Brilliant and more than a tad rebellious, Gloria eventually found her dreams of education and independence would never be realized. The solution? Build a wall of emotional isolation, remaining aloof even from her only child.

In Not How It Was Supposed to Be, author Allison Crabtree takes a poignant look at her mom's obsessive and eccentric life, and the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship fraught with tension and disappointment.

After a rapid decline and eventual diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, Gloria did not get to write the final chapter of her story. But, true to form, she wrote the final paragraph. In the throes of the disease's final horrors, Allison describes one last attempt to convince her mother to call on Jesus. Would she turn to him after a lifetime of feeling too far gone for redemption? And, more importantly, would the Savior show up to answer the call?

1. Opening Credits
2. Dedication
3. Preface
4. Introduction
5. Chapter 1: The Tanners
6. Chapter 2: Gloria
7. Chapter 3: Texas Living
8. Chapter 4: Twilight Gathers
9. Chapter 5: What Is Happening?
10. Chapter 6: The Diagnosis
11. Chapter 7: Too Soon
12. Chapter 8: The Final Days
13. Epilogue
14. Closing Credits