The core of this illuminating memoir consists of threads of consistency and learning that have emerged through Carol’s life experiences. We learn, as she and her sister Linda did, of the constructive optimism of their parents and how that mindset underlies successfully facing life’s struggles. Mistakes can be overcome. The burdens lift. Life is meant for living.With well-balanced sensitivity and striking honesty, she frankly reveals the false starts in her career and her love life and how things worked out in the end. We gain perspective, as she did, through spirited tales of her life experiences.Heart-wrenching events mix with moments of light, hope, and relief. Even the death of loved ones, people, and dogs doesn’t have to be a downward pull, as Carol learned from her dad.Carol has found that angels have an impact on our experiences, too. Although she has never seen an angel, her dogs saw several one evening.Her experiences in finally finding and settling into her career, her love life, and several events that didn’t seem significant, and some that did, all seem to fit together to form those surfacing life threads.
Although Carol Dismore holds a Master of Science degree in mathematics from Montana State University, she changed her vocation early on and worked a 36-year career as a certified public accountant. Since retiring, she keeps her hand in the game by doing the accounting for her church and for a few people she knows, just as a volunteer.
Carol also enjoys writing. Poetry is her medium of choice, and many of her poems have appeared in various periodicals. Being a stickler for precision, she favors rhythm and rhyme. Using the rhythm to enhance the poem’s subject matter, she has written rollicking sagas of her own and her father’s adventures, heartfelt tales from her own experience and from her mother’s childhood, and, more recently, what she calls ‘downloads from God’, poems that come to her in the middle of the night, unbidden.
Although they don’t have any dogs of their own now, Carol and her husband, Barry, dog-sit for a young beagle. They get their dog-fix that way.
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Reviews
19 reviews
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Concise writing, clear and to the point, kind of matter of fact, just like the author. Carol ‘s graphic writing takes the reader along on the journey with vivid, candid and emotive descriptions. She shares nuggets of wisdom gathered from mom and dad who themselves were formed by depression era parents and World War II. For example, “Dad was a man of integrity, honesty, and determination. He counseled me once, be deliberate, which meant when you do something do it consciously, with your full attention. Dad lived his council. I tried to live by his council too.”
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I thoroughly enjoyed Carol’s memoir. The pacing and flow makes for an excellent read. I was especially impressed with Carol’s ability, not to ignore the inevitable hardships tragedies in life, but to always move forward with deeper gratitude, wisdom, and hope. Well done!
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I thoroughly enjoyed Life Threads with the way Carol Dismore described all the details of nature, animals, historical events, people, and emotions. She utilizes all forms of writing with her poems, essays, and letters, even including photographs that give readers a deeper insight into her life and those she loved. I found myself emersed in her memoirs and could easily picture in my mind all that she endured and enjoyed through her eventful life. The book will be enjoyed by people of all ages who are looking for a comforting and positive outlook on life’s many challenges.
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I felt like I was on an elegant train passing though Carol's life. As I looked out the moving train, I experienced the beauty of Carol's writings of loving parents, sister, dogs, friends, and husbands.
The journey was poetic, crisp, and beautiful.
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Carol Dismore's memoir "Life Threads" skillfully captures the ups and downs of her remarkable life in Montana, while always moving towards an embrace of her true self. Written with candor, insight and humor, she offers the reader rich details about the life lessons she gained from her parents, her close relationship with her sister Diz, her series of husbands, and her many beloved dogs. Carol's career as an accountant provides stability during a range of adventures with horses, on the ranch, travelling and later with planning and building her dream home with a mountain view. While lasting love seemed elusive, Carol eventually settles into a happy and comfortable marriage.
Books can be great teachers, and Carol's memoir reminded me that the term "E ticket ride" derives from the original Disneyland rides, with the "E ticket" ride the most thrilling and exciting. Carol Dismore has lived her own "E ticket ride" moments, and she invites us to hop on and share those adventures.
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I'm glad that Carol's work as a CPA still leaves room for writing a memoir, and for her love of poetry.
Carol is a lucky woman, having grown up with the guidance of loving parents and her unusually supportive closeness with her sister, which she chronicles here. Her background sustains her through the considerable ups and downs in her life.
It's entertaining reading about rural life in a different part of the world (Montana, as compared with my own growing up in Los Angeles).
Clearly, Carol has kept a diary or journal through much or all of her life. Her ability to recall detail with chronological precision enhances interest in what she has to say.
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A down-home Montana childhood in a loving and hardworking family prepared Dismore for a challenging and varied adulthood. Her optimism and generous nature take have taken her over life’s bumps, always landing on her feet, ready for the future.
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While reading Carol Dismore’s memoir, “Life Threads” I remembered a deep longing I had when as a child of the City I dreamed of living a less restricted and regulated life. Away on a farm or ranch I imagined I would have time for solitude and adventures. Carol Dismore and her sister Linda grew up in such a life in Great Falls, Montana. Her memoir is in part about this life and the wonderful parents, Albert (Red) and Madge Dismore who created the conditions for their children’s storybook childhood. The subtitle, “Meeting Trails With Grace and a Can -Do Attitude” refers to abilities and attitudes that were instilled in the children, through the wise parenting style of the elder Dismore’s who were High School Sweethearts. The “can-do attitude”, learned from her dad, a self made successful business owner, is one that Carol demonstrates through the stages her life. Carol talks not only about her childhood, but about the many challenges she has had in her search for a career, friends and community, her cherished close relationship with her sister Linda and the many animals that she loved and nurtured over the years. The competence, forbearance and grace with which she navigated the ups and downs that life brings her is inspiring . The philosophy she learned from her parents, to acknowledge mistakes and move forward has worked well for her. Reading Carol’s memoir reminds me of how important it is to cultivate and integrate this attitude into ours and our children’s lives.
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