Book excerpt: The Truth of a Spirit Dying is about forgiveness. Identifying the counterparts of our struggles and embracing them. Facing the ghosts of our past and confronting them. It's about one family's trials and tribulations relating to the loss of a primary figure in the cycle of life. It's a journey in search of answers that lead to the discovery of a greater cause and a higher power.The Truth of a Spirit Dying highlights the devastating trickle down affect that a father's absence has on a mother and her children. Also, the courage and strength she displays as a single mother attempting to fulfill the role of both mother and father, while her effort goes unnoticed by her children. As the mother struggles to keep the family together she uses drinking as a mechanism to cope with the loss of the only man she ever loved and the fading images of her children. As she becomes more dependent on alcohol, her children become less dependent on her and are forced to nurture their own existence. The family is quickly broken up and subsequently begin their journeys through life carrying the burden of being fatherless children, an inheritance that would never die.