Taylor is an avid reader, enthusiastic traveler, and incurable beach lover. It was there where Taylor wrote her book, Two Minus One: A Memoir following the unexpected abandonment by her second husband. Taylor enjoyed thirty years in the classroom and had taught in the schools of Illinois, California, and Virginia before her retirement and relocation to South Carolina. The desire to become a teacher took root. Taylor experienced an undeniable sense of fulfillment helping her classmates and licking gold stars onto completed pages. She would allow Kathryn to assist classmates struggling to decode those pesky letter combinations and help them learn to read.

Decades before terms such as “peer tutoring” and “collaborative learning” had been coined, her teacher had an inspiring idea. When she entered first grade, reading came easily to Taylor. Kathryn Taylor was born at the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago, Illinois and spent much of her life in the Chicagoland area. Over the course of two years, through appointments with attorneys and therapists, purging shared belongings, and pushing herself to meet new people and do new things, Taylor not only regains a sense of control in her life, she also learns to enjoy the new life she has built, the friendships she’s formed―and to savor her newfound strength. Relying on the strength of a lifelong friend who refuses to let her succumb to the intense waves of grief, she slowly begins to find her way out of grief. With this, the life Taylor has come to know is over. Taylor’s husband unexpectedly proclaims he is, “done with the marriage and doesn’t want to talk about it.” But five years later, in a car packed with food she has carefully prepared to nourish her husband’s dying brother, the other shoe does drop. You can quit waiting for the other shoe to drop: I’m in it for life.” Those are the fateful, repeated words that help convince Kathryn Taylor to remarry, retire from her thirty-year profession, sell her home, and relocate in support of her new husband’s career. She tells her story with honesty and sincerity. This book was a heartfelt and courageous look at a woman having to face unexpected life changes.

Two Minus One by Kathryn Taylor