Terrina Troy

ALPENA — Terrina Troy is not hiding anything in her memoir, “All But Six,” which details her sometimes estranged, sometimes tumultous, but always deep, relationship with her father.

Troy grew up visiting Northeast Michigan in Ossineke, and now lives near Tucson, Arizona.

“When you write a book, you just never know, because people are so sensitive today, and you have to be so careful about what you say,” Troy said in a Zoom interview. “I really tried hard to put that aside. Let me just speak the truth, and if it hurts people’s feelings, I didn’t mean it to do that. I just felt like, if you’re going to tell a story about a real person, you have to be honest.”

Reading the memoir about Terry and his daughter, “Honey Babe” Terrina Troy, is like finding a diary, and then meeting the people in it. Terrina Troy opens the door to her past and invites you in for a six-pack as she reveals the intricacies of a relationship that both gave her life and drained the energy out of her at times.

“My dad didn’t believe in making people saints after they died,” Troy said of her late father. “A lot of people in Alpena knew him. I wasn’t going to round the edges and make him softer. I had to make him who he was. I loved him. I grew up with his sense of humor, and understanding him.”

It’s both a touching story and a relatable one for anyone who knows that family dynamics can be hard to navigate and sometimes downright exhausting.

“I always grew up thinking there’s always someone who has it worse,” she said. “I never felt sorry for myself.”

The story begins with a young girl who admires her bold, outspoken father. Soon, the two of them show that they are much more alike than different, both fearlessly stubborn and ready to fight. That ultimately leads to a split, and they go their separate ways.

She has always loved her dad, but realized she had to figure out how to create boundaries to protect herself from pain. That realization helped her grow.

It may seem that all is lost, but forgiveness leads to reconciliation.

In keeping with the honest portrayal of her dad, a rough-and-tumble trucker, language in the book gets quite colorful, but it represents reality. It wouldn’t be geniune without cussing.

This book will remind you that life isn’t always what you hoped it would be, but the strength within you and lessons you’ve learned even from those who have hurt you can make you a better person in the end.

“This is my story, but for you to interpret into your life,” Troy said. “Perhaps it may help you with something you’re thinking about, or struggling with.”

She noted that it was a daunting task to write the book, at first.

“How do you wrap up a complicated guy in a nutshell?” she asked. “In every situation he got himself into, it was because he basically said, ‘I’m doin’ it my way!’ … And he didn’t mean it in a malicious way. He just basically said it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks … He didn’t care what someone thought about what he wore, or what he drove, or where he lived, or what occupation he tried, or what trip he took. He didn’t care about anyone else’s opinion. He just lived his life. And if someone gave him a hard time, he would just say, ‘Great! Live your life. I’m gonna live mine.'”

She said that’s a good lesson, because many people get too caught up in what others think of them.

“All But Six” from Wool & Yard Wide Press, Troy’s own publishing company, is available online at terrinatroy.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and as a Kindle e-book.

Once you pick up “All But Six,” you won’t want to put it down. You’ll wonder what’s next in this powerful story that will have you laughing at times, and might evoke tears as you journey through the pain and triumph that Terrina Troy experienced to become who she is today.