Memoirs are usually centered around a theme, and often that theme includes a life lesson, or lessons, that the reader finds helpful as they navigate challenging situations in their own lives.  

Everything’s a Two Step but a Waltz doesn’t disappoint. There’s a strong message of resilience in the story, and as Morgan shares her experiences with great candor, the reader can find his or her own strength when dealing with an abrupt change of direction in their own lives.    

When we meet Chick Morgan, she’s in Texas to bury her mother who died that day. The same day her husband called to inform her that not only is he not coming to be with her at this terrible time, he wants a divorce.  

Talk about a two-step slam of personal devastation. 

The description of her reaction—“going to a bar and getting miserably, snotty, wailing, drunk, literally clearing the place out”—is stunning. It is also brutally honest, with more than a touch of self-deprecating humor, and probably not unlike reactions many of us have had to crushing blows but have never been brave enough to share with anyone.  

Then somehow, somewhere, Morgan finds the strength to pull herself together the next day and meet with family to plan the funeral. The fact that she was able to remain standing through that day, that week, the next few months, the next year, was a true testament to her resilience. She attributes some of her grit to being raised in a military family that moved frequently, and she had to cope with the upheaval. Her mother once told her, “Honey, you have two choices. You can adjust or you can adjust." 

After “The Great Shitstorm,” as she refers to that horrible experience of losing her mother and her marriage on the same day, Morgan spent almost a year traveling to visit friends who helped her cope as she tried to map out a new life—one that would be totally different from what she’d had.  

And how would she get from here to there? A question everyone asks when faced with adjusting to a major shift in life circumstances. Morgan quotes the writer, Esther de Waal, who talks about thresholds in life and “how we should learn from being in them, not just passing through." That's another way of saying we should live in the moment, which is a lesson Morgan was trying to hang on to in the midst of this great turmoil.  

Could she just stop and “be”? 

Can we? 

It was circumstance that brought Morgan from New York to Wimberley, Texas, but it was never her plan to stay long-term. It was only going to be as long as her father, who had dementia, needed her. Then she’d “leave Texas again for good.” 

When plans for a consulting job in Saudi Arabia fall through, she has to figure out what will come next. Is Wimberly going to be only a temporary stop on her journey to somewhere else or not?  

As the internal debate about staying or moving on rages, she recalls that advice from Esther de Waal about living in the moment. Can she do it? Can she give this place and these people a chance? Do a slow dance with them until she’s ready to two-step? 

Finding the answers to those questions is how Morgan’s life morphed into something wonderful as her confidence and creativity soared through her associations with artists, singers, and performers in Wimberley. "After all the years of being an asset to someone else, now she was an asset to herself. Her true self."  

What a terrific inspiration that is for people, especially those searching for their place and purpose in life. 

Even though the book deals with the tough topics of divorce and death, Everythings’s a Two-Step but a Waltz is a real pleasure to read. There were times I was so caught up in the story that I forgot it isn’t fiction. A great memoir does that, reads like fiction and makes a book hard to put down. 

This is a book I highly recommend for adult readers of all ages to enjoy. It’s inspiring. The narrative sings. There’s enough humor to soften the harshness of the subject matter. And the inclusion of song lyrics at strategic times to enhance the narrative is a perfect touch. 

5 stars