Eden Shrugged

This is the story of one family's journey through life and the obstacles they overcame with their never-ending love, passion, desire, and loyalty. The story begins with the coming of age of Melissa Stark and then becomes interwoven with the fabric of life of the rest of her loving and caring family. Melissa was a passionate, rebellious young girl who came from a long line of fiercely independent, liberated women. She was a free-spirited truth seeker, wise beyond her years. Her relentless pursuit of the stream of consciousness of a higher power brought her to an Eden-like place full of peace and love and tolerance. The story chronicles the connection between divine intervention and a series of incredible coincidences that made her family's unconventional love come full cycle.

This story also explores the inherent connection between spirituality and sexuality that defines us all as human beings and sanctifies our primal essence. The family in this story clung to each other in times of tragedy and loss, and they nurtured each other with love and kindness and understanding. Their love and kindness and empathy enabled them to survive the suffocating dominance and persecution of the evangelical fundamentalists who were envious of their love and passion. This story strongly rejects the pop culture myth that men are from Mars and women are from Venus as a frivolous rationalization that could lead to the acceptance of misogyny and reverse misogyny. This story strongly suggests that we are all from one place-Eden.

This family's nonpolitical, unbiased interpretation of the scriptures and their unconventional social values may make you question everything you've been carefully taught about God and the rules of engagement in the game of love. You will need to remove all of the puritanical fig leaves that have been planted in your brain by society to appreciate the eternal beauty of this family. If any of the scenes in this story are offensive to you, consider that to be your wake-up call. You have just failed the puritanical fig leaf litmus test. You have allowed too many puritanical fundamentalist fig leaves to be planted in your brain by society; it's time for you to do some leaf pruning before it's too late. It's time to declare your very own spiritual and social Emancipation Proclamation and live and let live.

Reconciling reality with normality and morality may well be one of the most monumental tasks any human being can ever undertake. Most folks just put this task in the hands of God and muddle through. The lovable, good-natured children of Eden in this story also delegated this task to God, and it all worked out well for them. You might end up loving and identifying with many of the major characters in this story if you outsource your judgmental inhibitions to God and be one with your creator. It is my fervent wish that this frugal chariot I am offering you bears your human soul to a place of peace and love and tolerance.