WHAT IS A TAP WATER GIRL?
When you first open a book and see that it is “dedicated to all families who sing in the car,” you suspect that what is inside is something very special. A Tap Water Girl In A Bottled Water World, by Shirley Garrett, is just that. It is an enchanting, jubilant, candid, and poignant anecdotal autobiography. Known as Dr. Shirl to her friends, Garrett is a former teacher, former director of Tanner Women’s Center, and is now a professional motivational speaker and writer.

The book gets its title from one of the many colorful chapters. Shirley said that she originally intended that it be entitled something like, “It’s a Full ‘Time Job Just Being Me”. Other chapters include intriguing appellations such as, “Sew What!”, “The Jeanetic Code”, “The Haul of Fame”, “The Weak Before”, “Getting Old is Hell”, The Mother Load”.

The book is appropriately subtitled, Reflections on belonging and believing. And that is what the publication is really about. At her premier book singing sponsored by the Bowdon Area Historical Society, on September 17, 2002, Dr. Shirl said that all of us are searching “for who we are, where we belong, and how we fit in”. A Tap Water Girl In a Bottled Water World is a chronicle of the author’s personal musings regarding her own belonging and believing.

Pondering her specific pilgrimage, Shirley acknowledges that it takes an uncommon kind of courage to face your own humanity. She observes:” But that kind of courage comes from living — from learning — from growing. That kind of courage comes from knowing that, regardless of the immediate pain, it is far better to recognize, accept, and live with the truth. That kind of courage knows that most likely you will find the truth in your gut — not in your heart.”

Shirley Garrett’s book is not one of those tell all exposes where the family’s dirty linen gets aired. While certainly cathartic, it is not an accounting that makes the author look self-righteous. It is not one of those books that get laughs at the expense of others.

Shirley was fortunate to be adopted into a family where its members were first able to laugh at themselves. (Yes, adopted from an orphanage at age four. That circumstance certainly figured heavily in Shirley’s own search for self-identity. One particularly moving chapter finds the author and husband Randy in Germany trying to connect with her birth mother’s roots.) And she has continued to surround herself with those who do take themselves too seriously.

While A Tap Water Girl In A Bottled Water World is about the zany antics of a coming-of-age girl, and then a maturing woman, about the escapades of her parents, cousins, aunts, playmates, grandchildren and girl friends, and about one individual’s zest for life that would take her on some interesting detours, it is really about all of us, and our own quests in trying to make life make sense. Dr. Shirl concludes her marvelous journal with that thought in mind.

“As you read these stories, I hope you say how you fit into the world and that you embraced the feelings of belonging. As you continue to look at your own experiences, I hope memories of a delightful life emerge. Memories of love, learning, laughing, and a soaring spirit. And I hope that you discovered what really matters to you.” There is even a little workbook at the very end. And why does Shirley Garrett think families singing together in the car is so significant? You will have to read the book.

REVIEW FROM:
The Carroll Star News September 29, 2002
The Bookmark Weekly book review
By Larry G. Johnson