Where The River Bends - Doug Landgraff

Join the author's quest for self-discovery and acceptance of his "otherness." From his humble beginnings in Windsor, the automotive capital of Canada, he navigates a multicultural, post-war Canadian backdrop. Despite deep loss and hardship, he is blessed with good fortune and celebrates strong family ties.

Spanning seven decades from the 1950s to the present day, he transitions from sheltered childhood innocence to adulthood. Witnessing world events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Presidential assassinations and impeachments, antiwar demonstrations, and the FLQ crisis, he finds solace in the music of the Motown era, the British Music Invasion, and iconic concerts like Woodstock and Jesus Christ Superstar.

As he matures, he follows the scientific principles of observation, hypothesis, and conclusion, leading him into the pharmacy profession. He faces trauma rooted in his underlying nature, diagnosed only in adulthood. His journey continues with his wife, a strong professional disabled by fibromyalgia, and witnesses his firstborn's declaration as a transgender woman and the subsequent grief of losing a son. He endures the loss of his second-born daughter to a fast-moving carcinoma, battles depression, general anxiety disorder, PTSD, and becomes disabled after a pulmonary embolism and a diagnosis of COPD and chronic pain.

The closing chapters reflect on his adulthood diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum, his spirituality, and his good fortune. His quest realized, he concludes with observations, acceptance, and a celebration of "otherness."