About

My early life involved interfacing with several world cultures. In high school one summer, I went to France to study French. That whet my appetite for travel, and I volunteered as an English teacher on a mission in Puerto Rico for two summers. My husband joined the Foreign Service and for fifteen years we traveled from Nicaragua to Ecuador to Greece to Italy— with three children and a dog.
After my divorce, I moved on to the next phase of my life where I consolidated my cultural experiences with my vocation in the classroom. I was an English as a Second Language high school teacher for seventeen years in Virginia. Toward the end of my teaching career, I earned a master of arts in teaching. That journey, a master’s in reflective practice, was a critical tool toward understanding my own life journey.
Now I’m in my third act, retired from teaching with time to reflect back on my fortunate life, continue to learn and grow, and put some of my stories down on paper. My two award-winning memoirs chronicled the generational substance use disorder in both me and my daughter. My third memoir is a love story written with my partner about my ultimate recovery from this disease, with some exotic travel around the United States, Canada, Greece, and Hawaii. It completes this series of memoirs on substance use disorder.
Writing is an illuminating form of self-discovery, and it helps me put my life into better perspective. This has proven to be valuable rite of passage for many men and women in their golden years, and I hope to teach life-writing to seniors.

Get in Touch

Send your questions and comments to marilea.rabasa@gmail.com.

Member

National Association of Memoir Writers
Story Circle Network
Nar-anon
Al-Anon
Alcoholic’s Anonymous
The Addict’s Parents United

Literary Awards

The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir.

Stepping Stones has advanced to the Short List of the CIBA’s. I am honored and humbled to be among these talented memoirists.