In "My Life: But I Digress..." the very first picture we encounter is of deer feeding in an urban sanctuary in the author's back yard. From there Emily Jurs Sparks takes us back in time to chronicle her life, as a thoughtful child, and with family, nature, fantasy, art, and always the animals. Dogs, cats, and birds feature in the writing-in the city, on the family's country ranches, and along the heartfelt internal landscape of our protagonist.