The wheels can fall off in life when some people least expect it. What makes some fall apart doesn't even move the gauge with others. In Stepping Stones: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss & Transformation, Marilea C. Rabasa describes what appears to be a childhood journey of insecurity, distancing and how she as a child learned to deal with it.

Who you are can affect your core. Growing up in dysfunction can leave a lasting impression. When parenting isn't hands-on, a child sometimes will substitute the lack of love with vices to help them get through their days.

While wearing the interior scars of where she stood in her family, Rabasa didn't value who she was as a human being. She needed attention even if it happened to be negative attention. She was obese and felt like she was getting the short end of the stick because of it .So she decided to deal with it secretly in the bathroom.

Looking back on an intimate need that could've been deadly hanging over her head, Rabasa gets it that denial doesn't change reality. Especially when someone that loved on your body says they could've killed you.

She became the wife of an ambassador and traveled the world. One would think she would've leveled with her husband about her battle with her secret demons. But lips that should be open and forthcoming are often locked.

Divorcing to reclaim her life, she found herself overwhelmed. Something had to give, so her children paid the price. They lived without the comfort of love and attention that should've come naturally.

Children deal with what they do, or do not receive in different ways. And nobody knows that better than her. Her youngest daughter is metaphorically hanging from a ledge. But is it even possible for her to save her when she's struggling to save herself?

In Stepping Stones, Rabasa finds out that what she thought was going on in her family was way different from what she imagined. With the wisdom of reality she battles her alcohol and bulemic addiction. She's also given some advice that changes her life. At first she wants to resist the advice but realizes that she would only be hurting herself. Sometimes you have to let go because by holding on you are hindering your journey to somehow reach the rainbow.

This book was perfect at revealing flaws, real or imagined and above all forgiveness.