Sometimes Shells Make Sand: A story of love, loss, ALS, and an unruly Labradoodle - Paperback

by Julie Doyle Cullen (Author)

Julie spent twenty years building a rewarding career as a well-respected newspaper executive. However, she was unaware that the company was merging with its digital counterpart until she was abruptly and unceremoniously relieved of her duties.

While adapting to her new, slower-paced lifestyle, Julie realizes that there are only so many episodes of The Real Housewives of (fill in the city) that she can watch before she goes out of her mind.

After some soul searching, she decides to make use of her now-empty calendar by spending more time with her mother, Suzanne, and daughter, Kylie. The three women are exactly twenty-five years apart in age (25, 50, 75) and have a tight bond built through numerous adventures together including miscalculated marijuana edibles, male relationship wrangling, hole-in-the-wall drinking establishments, ridiculous conversations with complete strangers, and other zany situations.

It is a story about three women (and those who love them) as they band together to navigate the physical, mental, and emotional toll the disease takes on their lives. Throughout the journey, they manage to find laughs along with the tears.

Shells Make Sand is about learning to love the dysfunctional family you have and honoring the ones you have lost. But most of all, it is about remembering that life is ever-changing and beautiful, just like the hard shells that fade into soft powdery sand.