?I was terrified of being a burden to my husband and my family?. ?When I was diagnosed I was?devastated,? says Ricks. In 2004, she was diagnosed with?Retinitis Pigmentosa Diagnosis, a?degenerative eye disease that, over time, is slowly stealing her eyesight.
Ricks is one tough cookie with an inspirational story and message to boot. The My Ballard team had the pleasure of sitting down with Ricks to chat about her writing career and the path that led her to where she is today. The local Mom of two has hit number 20 on the New York Times bestseller list with her self published coming-of-age memoir,? Hippie Boy. It makes for a litany of trouble and abuse that's well written and heartbreaking but ultimately not very revealing or empowering.Local writer Ingrid Ricks is one inspirational and successful Ballardite.
One wishes she'd been able to provide perspective on how she survived and what she thinks of it now. We are rarely offered the gift of hindsight and the motivations behind her parent's actions are often left unexplored.
Ricks writes in her own young perspective, skimping in the type of reflection that makes this genre so powerful. With such a strong and eventful timeline of events, it's easy to overlook the missing pieces in her narrative. They drove all over the Western U.S., sleeping in a van and selling locals tool sets using her father's "golden tongue because he can talk his way in or out of anything." These sections are particularly engrossing as she adeptly captures a dysfunctional relationship that's steeped in love. These chapters alternate with those recalling summers spent with her salesman father, Jerry. The author's clear-eyed prose keeps the pages turning as she depicts life with a deeply pious and insecure mother and an abusive stepfather. Originally self-published, Ricks's memoir recounts a childhood spent ping-ponging between two unstable parents.
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