Hopping Roller Coasters: A Personal Conversation With Maya Washington

by Rachel Pappas

"Rachel Pappas was an in-your-face mother, but loves her daughter more than life. Mom doesn’t play around when the neighborhood bully’s taunting got way out of hand. She stood up to hard-nosed teachers who didn’t get that you don’t punish a child who’s flailing; Marina needed help. And she sat in the front row, clapping till her palms hurt, when her half-Greek, half-Jewish daughter took the podium at her predominantly African American school— glowing in her cap, gown, and greased cornrows.No one was going to hurt Marina. No one. Except Rachel herself, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition her daughter would struggle with too.The story begins with Rachel’s cancer diagnosis. Then slips back in time to show a transformational journey laced with drama and exhilarating humor. You are introduced to a mother who can’t take her eyes off the pink, three-pound preemie staring back with sapphire eyes. In time you see a relationship spin out of control. It’s a two-decade roller coaster ride. Actually you’re Hopping from one Roller Coaster to the next, through mother-daughter meltdowns, Marina’s onslaught of psychiatric hospitalizations, cutting, and overdosing. Rachel’s cancer diagnosis comes just as mother and daughter start to mend. Then more devastating news about her own parents.This openly, honestly-told story finally comes full circle. A pure love is on a healthy track, and hard lessons have sunk in. Lessons on redefining success. Mortality. Loving, and being loved. Forgiving, and being forgiven."

270 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2011

About the author

Rachel Pappas writes for regional and national magazines, newspapers and blogs. She is a mental health and cancer advocate, presenting at National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and teaching therapeutic writing at support groups.

Rachel teaches writing at community colleges and published Hopping Roller Coasters, about her daughter and her, both diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

BTW, I'm the one on the left in the photo. The beauty on the right is my daughter.