Marlene Sternberg's 42-year-old bachelor son, Robbie, who lives and works hundreds of miles away, fails to call her on her 70th birthday. Several days later she gets a mysterious package from him and before she can open it, he phones and drops a bombshell. He's no longer her son -- he's had a sex-change operation and he's now her daughter. Marlene realizes that her husband, Henry, although a devoted father, is also a conservative old-fashioned guy who will be out of his mind when he gets the news. Why did Robbie have to keep his surgery secret until after the fact? Why was Marlene's younger child, 37-year-old daughter Linda, instrumental in financing the operation? Suddenly Marlene's everyday obsessions take a back seat to the new family dynamics. No longer is her biggest problem her thirty pounds of excess weight or even the fact that tightwad Henry won't pay for the facelift she desires. Will Henry try to close the door on his relationship with Robbie? What should Marlene advise her new transgendered daughter to do about Robbie's earlier commitment to stand up as a groomsman for wealthy cousin Cissy's imminent lavish wedding, since none of the extended family knows about the operation? As the weeks pass, Marlene sees the possibility that the harrowing upset to the family relationships can be normalized if only Henry is given time to adjust. Will her maternal instincts and love for her two children overcome all the new obstacles facing her? Lea Becker's treatment of a sensitive subject is written with empathy and humor. This fictional tale about a family with a dilemma is a story that could be true and could be playing out right now in your neighborhood or your own home.
About the Author: When Lea Hope Becker graduated from DePaul University of Law in 1980, holding both a CPA certificate and law degree, she embarked on a two-fold strategy in order to acquire a fulfilling career. She would build a private practice concentrated in business and tax planning and write books dealing with her life experiences as a wife, mother, tax strategist, humorist and survivor of generational changes. Building and conducting her private practice soon consumed much of her time, but she never ceased writing articles, stories, humorous skits for events, poems and sketches for future books. Now she is the author of four published books, I Promise to Keep Quiet After I'm Dead (maybe), I Promise to Stay Married (This Time), Children I'm Home, and as of November, 2014, My Name's Not Robbie Any More. Lea Hope Becker's long career as a professional tax advisor and preparer has always been focused on representing clients requiring special attention. Her experience with small business start-ups, family estate issues and clients facing IRS audits has led to her philosophy of turning negatives into positives. She does this by injecting humor in her life and advising others, both young and old, to turn from despair to embarking on constructive projects. "Do something that makes you happy and give yourself a chance to smile," she says. "If life were too simple and success too easy to attain, we would all become bored out of our minds."