PERHAPS WE ALL NEED TWO FAMILIES: the one we are born into and the one that finds us when we really searching for it.....

In Chicago in July 1959, eleven-year-old Michael Friedman roamed the hot summer streets to hide from home. Any place was better than the dark apartment where his mother suffered mysterious ailments and was lost in her own world. Anywhere was better than home when his father was there. Despite working two jobs, David Friedman felt financial ruin creeping ever closer and he took his anger and frustration out on his wife and his children. All of the Friedmans really, really, needed some mazel, some luck, and soon.

Then Michael got into a fight with some Italian kids on the next street...and life finally began to change...for all of them.

Hardships and Blessings is a tale of two parents overcoming sudden family crises by combining their strengths to support all the children they love.

Wayne L. Meyer's childhood on Chicago's Westside inspired this story. Like Michael, Wayne's childhood was darkened by his mother's illnesses, his own ailments, his father's financial struggles, and the family's secrets. But after a run-in with twin brothers, Wayne's life was brightened by their mother's love and the twins' acceptance. As a shared passion for baseball drew him closer to his father, Wayne went on to an athletic career that included letters in high school varsity baseball and wrestling. The twins were always his teammates. In their sophomore year, their baseball team won the Chicago City championship at Wrigley Field. After college, while playing for the semi-pro Chicago Stars, Wayne was scouted by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Happily married for 44 years (the twins were his best men) and the proud father of two adult children and "Zayde" to four grandchildren, Wayne still lives in the Chicago region and still roots for the Cubs. His Dad lived to celebrate the Cubs' 2016 World Series win, a lifelong dream come true. Wayne still hangs out with the twins several times a year.

Meryl L. Wilens was born in The Bronx, NY, but grew up on Long Island. Despite the move to the "country," away from her dear grandparents, they remained important in her life. She was a rapt listener to all their "kibitzing" over cards or "glasses" of tea.

Now retired from a career in academia, she has been busy writing stories, under different names, to preserve their tales.

It was through career moves that she and her husband came to live in the Chicago area. There she met Wayne and his wife. One day, he began to tell her the story of his childhood and showed her all the scrapbooks.

"That would make a great book," Meryl said, "but I write fiction. Are you okay with that?"

Wayne agreed and their partnership was launched.

Meryl's next book will be based on her mother's tales of the women in their Long Island neighborhood. Now she and her husband are back in NY, enjoying being Bubbe and Zayde to two wonderful grandchildren (with hopes of more to come). Oh yes, they are also parents to two adult children and their partners from whom they shepp nachas, get great joy!