Here's the Story LP: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice (27 page)

BOOK: Here's the Story LP: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice

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One day, as we toured a town in the province of Chibola, I met Mary, a fourteen-year-old girl who’d lost both of her parents to AIDS. She was raising her four brothers and sisters by herself. I was unnerved when we were introduced. The pain and hardship of her life had squeezed virtually every drop of childhood from her face. She had the expression of a forty-year-old.

I was introduced to many people there, but I felt a connection with her. She and her siblings lived in a one-room shack with a dirt floor. They took turns sleeping on a single foam mattress. Their toilet was a hole in the floor. To make money, Mary washed dishes for people in the village. Many nights they went without food. I felt my heart opening as she told me about herself and her life. Soon my arms were opening, too. I reached out and hugged her. She seemed to need someone to lean on, and I said to her, “I hope this feels like a mother.”

She leaned into me and tears poured out of her eyes. I cried, too. Months later, I still picture her eyes staring into mine. I can still feel her embrace, the warmth and smell of her skin. I feel like that gave me the ending I’d been searching for, if only because it also felt like the beginning of the next phase of my life. I had spent my whole life searching for me, and there, in a frighteningly impoverished village in Africa, as I opened my arms and my heart to a little girl who needed a hug, I found myself—the real me, not someone else’s image or my idealized version. Just me, Maureen McCormick.

And you know what?

It turned out I was perfect—perfect in my imperfections!

From what I’ve been able to figure out, all of us are here together and we need one another. We must celebrate one another’s differences. Learning to ask for help is as important as learning the value of helping other people. I believe all the people in my life have been there for a reason, and I hope I have been in theirs for a reason as well. It’s taken me a while, but I feel truly blessed. After all is said and done, I love life. I love people. And I love being me…well, most of the time.

And that’s the story.

Acknowledgments

I
wish to thank and acknowledge the following people, without whose help and input this book would never have come into being. In no particular order they are:

Todd Gold, Harriet Champion, Dennis McCormick, Mike and Hella McCormick, Brandon and Colin McCormick, Leyla Church, Deb Goldfarb, Devin Sunseri, Dan Strone, Lisa Perkins, Laurie Chittenden, Seale Ballenger, Lisa Gallagher, Michael Morrison, Lynn Grady, Tavia Kowalchuck, Michael Barrs, Christine Casaccio, Jennifer Slattery, Josh Marwell, Mike Brennan, Mike Spradlin, Carla Parker, Donna Waitkus, Brian Grogan, Jeff Rogart, Beth Silfin, Kim Lewis, Andrea Molitor, Rich Aquan, Betty Lew, Mauro DiPreta, Lisa Sharkey, Maureen O’Brien, Michele Corallo, Mary Ann Petyak, David Plotkin, Will Hinton, Suzanne Wickham, Rich Fahle, Carin and Paul Pheiffel, Bobbi, Bill, and Richard Abramson, Nancy, Gordon, Brian, Christine, and Sarah Harrison, Janet, John, John Jr., and Heather O’Brien, David Shall, Susan Corzillias, Alexandria, Hannah, and Samantha Shall, Mike, Mary, and Jennifer Garrison, Bob and Dup Pierce, Terence and Carmen Michos and family, Randi Bach, the Copeland family, the Colclough family, the Higgins family, the Lykken family, the Steinbergs, Mrs. Brooks, the Burnetts, Dave and Vicki Rosemont, the Hogans, Ann Wren, Cindy and Lee Larson, Kyle and Laura Davies, the Ticktin family, the Steiglers, the Skagerberg family, Sandy Peckinpah, Buddy, Robin, and Jenna Singer, Dr. Howard, Pam, and Jennifer Bliman, the Bhowmik family, Kyle and Laurie Davies, Dick and Suzanne Thompson, WPC, Tim and Lori Stevens, Winter-haven, Pat Ring, ARC, Judy Hightower, Mary Shepherd, Tom Militello, Cindy Montgomery, Dr. Greenman DDS, Dom and Kae Oliver, Reina and Magdelena Hernandez, Judy Kaufman, Chris Viores, Carnie Wilson, Bobby Brown, David Garfinkel, Jay Renfroe, Missy Hughes, Cletus, Kimberly Locke, Richard Hall, Brian Shiers, Tiffany, DaBrat, Ant, Harvey, Stacy Kaiser, Diane DeGarmo, Sisco, Julio Iglesias Jr., Dee Snyder, Julie Ross, Wes Stevens, Ross Matthews, Barry Greenberg, Sal Maniaci, Bob Kusbit, MTV, CMT, TV Land,
Access Hollywood,
Mike Lookinland, Susan Olsen, Ann B. Davis, Chris Knight, Bob Reed, Barry Williams, Florence Henderson, Lloyd and Barb Schwartz, Sherwood Schwartz, Barbara Chase, Hope Schwartz, Frances Whitfield, Jerry Houser, Michael and Eliza Gross, Fred Walicki, Tommy Funderburk, Kenn Gulliksen, Desi Arnaz, Alex Bordon, Sarah Hardcastle, Sandra DeMeo, Mindy Johnson, Jessie and Dudy Brough, Mary Wallbridge, Ed and Ronnie Laberthon, Kaiser Hospital in Woodland Hills, David Baum, Cindy Munzlinger, John Jenkins, Pam Pumphrey, Danny Sarnoff, Harry Moses, Claudia Jennings, Keith Jennings, Fredde Duke, Sandy Bressler, Anne Lockhart, Barb and Angie, Lynn and Glenn Braudt, JoAnne and Frank Walsh, Aunt Margaret, Nita McCormick, the McCormick cousins, Ed Laberthon, Mickey and Irene Thorpe, Sandy Chanley, Kim and Dorothy Cummings, Kim and Jeannie Cummings and family, Carol and Don Harvey and family, Tim and Lori Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. Trond Woxen, Cam and Sigi Camereno, Dave and Cathy Thomas, Anushka, Lisa Trunk, Vicki, Kamyi, and Johnson Young, Byron Williams, Mark at Byron Williams, Susan’s Healthy Gourmet, Special Olympics, Eunice Shriver, Best Buddies, Bobby Shriver, Mark Wylie, Jim Murphy, Children International, Northern Lights Direct Response, Touch of Class Pet Salon, Organize This, Mike Kevorkian’s State Farm Insurance Team, Timbuktu Marina in Cook, Minnesota, Brad Paisley, Jason Alexander, Eddie Money, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Hooks, Rosie O’Donnell, Stephen Furst, Gail Troberman, Trisha Yearwood, John Rich, Taylor Hackford, George Hickenlooper, Henry Winkler, Barbara Mandrell, Bruce Vilanch, Dr. Phil, Mary Margarette, Matt Ramsey, Billy Lawson, Susy Unger, the Olivers, the Roths, Jeff Auerbach, Dr. Frankel, Diane Lipson, Dr. Arthur Johnson, Dr. Cedric Johnson, Dr. Singer.

About the Author

Born in 1956,
M
AUREEN
M
C
C
ORMICK
began her career at the age of six after winning the Baby Miss San Fernando Valley beauty pageant. She appeared in numerous commercials for brands such as Mattel and Kool-Aid, and performed in early episodes of
Bewitched
and
My Three Sons
before landing the starring role as Marcia Brady in the groundbreaking sitcom
The Brady Bunch
, which aired in prime time from 1969 to 1974. McCormick is also a singer and voice-over actor who has made a number of appearances in television and movie roles during her long career. She recently returned to television as a cast member of VH1’s
Celebrity Fit Club
and won! She lives in Southern California with her husband and daughter.

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Credits

Jacket design by Richard Aquan

Jacket photograph by Jeffrey Vogeding

HERE’S THE STORY
. Copyright © 2008 by Maureen McCormick. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Mobipocket Reader September 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-171606-5

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