The Nearly Departed
(Or my family & other foreigners)
By Brenda Cullerton 

     Definitely categorized as a dark comedy, Brenda Cullerton's story about her family unexpectedly keeps you smiling. I mean, here you are reading about her parents and how very close they are to dying, yet you smile. Cullerton writes that her mother praised her dog when he bit through the mailman's pant leg. He was protecting her--heeding his "call of the wild." You have to smile.

     Cullerton also writes that her mother is "a combination of modesty and madness, labeling anything that came close to elitism or that involved an organization as off-limits--except church, that is." (See if you can read this without smiling.) Every Sunday Mother would pull into St. Mary's parking lot, open the door, and with the car still moving, shove us into the arms of the Lord.

     Reading about Cullerton's father, however, invoked a certain sadness that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I got the feeling that she had a lot she needed to say to him, but his disintegrating ability to understand stood in the say. I was touched when I read her description of her father's "disembodied voice on my answering machine, repeating his own name over and over again. ….I press 'Skip' and 'Delete.' It is as if in pushing these buttons I will obliterate the reminder of a man who, far from watching over me, chose to forget all about me."

     Witty, laughable, and close-to-home on some pages, The Nearly Departed is definitely a unique read and a good dose of realization to anyone whose family is full of quirkiness and unbelievable loved ones. I think the sidebar of Cullerton's title says it best: "Looking back, family members often seem like foreigners."

     The extremely talented Brenda Cullerton is an occasional ghostwriter, and develops slogans for the fashion world. She has written several books on interiors and the home.