GRIT & GRACE:
The Transformation of a Ship & a Soul
by Deborah Rudell
Grit & Grace
There are many stories about people trapped in their material existence, who go through a transformative experience and discover their soul and connection to the Divine. In Grit & Glue: The Transformation of a Ship and a Soul, I write about knowing my soul as a child, and spending my life striving to integrate and embrace my spiritual awareness while being fully human and part of life on Earth.
We follow my story through teen years and reading metaphysical literature and into adulthood where real life collides with the constructs of self-identity from book learning. The influences of relationship and the spiritual practices of yoga and rebirthing culminate in finding a spiritual teacher. After three years in a large commune in Oregon, there is a crisis when the master appears to betray the disciples and the commune collapses.
Spiritually adrift, my husband and I return home to a small town and our profession of dentistry where we briefly enjoy an ordinary life before once again embarking on another adventure. While I was quite happy to remain in a small town and practice dentistry, my husband was not and it was eventually decided to move to Kauai and rebuild an old wooden boat.
This is a story of dismantling an old boat and rebuilding it without any training or prior knowledge of boatbuilding. Simultaneously it is the story of my inner journey from feeling bereft from my soul to becoming fully present in this material world as I learn to sail and navigate across the Pacific Ocean from the Hawaiian Islands to the Pacific Northwest. Grit & Glue enthralls the reader through construction set-backs, conquering impossible tasks with ingenuity and tenacity, and finally through two gales, debilitating seasickness, near knock downs and a skipper overboard.
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Other Publications
Deborah’s story, Hot Skins, is featured in Shaking the Tree: Brazen. Short. Memoir. Vol. 3: I Didn't See That One Coming
The San Diego Memoir Writers Association is honored to present volume three of compelling true stories drawn from our annual Memoir Showcase contest. This year’s winning selections address the theme of I Didn’t See That One Coming. While these stories were written before the global pandemic, they offer insight and reflections on how unseen events shape our lives.
The stories within these pages are awe-inspiring. Our authors bravely share their life-altering surprises and vulnerable moments no one ever saw coming in a collection that is thrilling, heartwarming, humorous, and moving.
This bold and entertaining volume is filled with stories about being kidnapped at gunpoint and solving the mystery of a father you never knew, to having the best sex of your life in your eighties. In the spirit of the Shaking the Tree series, this book goes there—unapologetically.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Contact Deborah
deborahrudellauthor@gmail.com
10601 Tierrasanta Blvd. #138
San Diego, CA 92124