Book excerpt: Marci: Tale of an Air Force Wife is the story of a woman's mid-life search for true love amidst a back drop that includes such exciting cities as Tokyo and Dallas. As we meet the title character, she is engaged in the often stressful and demanding lifestyle of her business career which takes her to the Far East to work at an American Embassy. During a chance encounter on a Japanese train with an interesting man, Marci begins doing something she hasn't done in ages she shares her life story: We see Marci as a very popular teenager with a propensity for men in uniform and with no shortage of Saturday-night dates. We follow her development from being a rather reserved young girl, to a young woman who is at home on the floor of a military dance. Not surprisingly, Marci marries a military man an Air Force Staff Sergeant named Rodney and the story follows Marci around the world as an Air Force wife to England, to Japan, and various locations back in the States. But what should have been an American-as-apple-pie life a military wife raising four children is seriously marred by awful secrets that Marci must deal with largely by herself. As Marci enters its concluding chapters, we again return to the present, and the beginning of a new phase of life. And so we leave Marci, full of hope. Because she knew the love of her life was out there, and this new man in her life, Philip, just might be him.