Growing up on a farm in New Brunswick at the end of World War II, Ruby Cusack had a childhood filled with animals, chores, visits to the fishing hole and rebelling against hair bows and box socials. It was a different time, before social media, cell phones, and television. A time of community and small town life, where everyone knew each other. A time when people were born, raised, married and went on to have their own family all in the same small place.
It was also a time of storytelling, and Ruby Cusack was good at that, sharing stories of her childhood with her own children. Stories of what she called yesteryear, the magical time of her own childhood, growing up on the family homestead in Titusville.
Her daughter, Nancy Cusack has gathered together some of Ruby's stories, using them as examples as she shares her own expertise in mental health. Taking her cues from her mother, Cusack, a licensed counselling therapist with twenty years of experience, shares her knowledge with compassion and a touch of nostalgia.
Spend some time with Ruby and learn of shivarees and how they could help lay the foundation for a strong marriage. Learn about quilting bees and how they brought women together, what the once extinct eastern panther can teach you about how your brain works to keep you alive, and why it's human nature to seek revenge, even though it doesn't usually work out too well for anyone. Be reminded that darkness happens everywhere, that love takes many forms, and the comfort that can be found in community.
Read Ruby's story, learn from Nancy's wisdom, and be treated to a touch extra with Ruby's famous line, 'Oh, by the way...'
Spend some time with Ruby in Yesteryear, and with Nancy today. You'll be glad you did.