"I knew from the moment I spotted her on the beach that my life would never be the same. I don't know what it was exactly that drew my attention to her. Yet I knew instinctively that she was it-the catalyst. I was forever changed before the first 'hello.'" A chance encounter on the beach launches Rita on a journey of introspection and self-exploration. Realizing that there is something missing in her life and in her marriage of convenience, Rita begins to ask honest questions about herself, her husband, and her life choices. Beth, a woman who is quite accustomed to looking past the surface, challenges Rita to look beyond the status quo to find out what it is that she truly wants from life. When she does, Rita is startled to find that very little of what she formerly called her "life" reflects her own desires. She discovers that she has been sleepwalking through her life for years. When Rita awakens suddenly in the midst of her illusory world, she finds that she is virtually a stranger there. Rita's transformation leads her to places she never expected to go, towards a love and a life she never thought she'd find. Her journey has inspired readers to take their own journeys towards their true selves. You hold a book in your hand that will leave you changed in some way. Embrace transformation and allow the journey to take you where it will. Caterpillars don't try to change into butterflies; it just happens on its own accord when the right time arrives. While our journeys may be different, we all follow the same types of paths to get to where we need to be-to find our way back to our core being and our life's purpose. Driftwood is a book about transformation. It tells the story of Rita Capri, a woman who feels compelled to set sail into uncharted waters in the midst of her own stormy sea of a life. Leaving a dissatisfying marriage of convenience was only the beginning of her life's journey into more authentic and honest living. She woke up from her life of sleepwalking to find that she had the power to choose how she lived, who she loved, and what she could do to build her own life in a new way. This is a story about one woman, but it offers a glimpse into how each of us can and does make our own decisions about how we live, even if that choice involves acquiescence to societal and cultural expectations rather than choices based on our own dreams and desires.