FOREVER HER MOTHER’S SON: THE DINA JACOBS STORY is a biography about Dina Montalbo. She was born Clifford Amado Montalbo and has lived most of her life as a performer, providing entertainment to those who appreciate her talents and illusions. Dina’s life has had many ups and downs, successes and disappointments, and has taken her all around the world. Although she has lived and worked in many places, the bulk of her life and career has been in Hawaii, Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston. Dina believes in living life in the present. She recognizes that the past has happened and the future will occur. As you take her hand and take a walk with her through her life in this book, you will likely come to the same conclusion.

This comes from pages 107-108.

LOOKING BACK

     It is often in later years that people spend extended time in reflection. In her 70s Dina began to look back on her life, the joys, the sorrows, the successes, and the mistakes. She reflected on her arrival and time in Chicago and contrasted it with her ego that rode with her into Atlanta.

     Dina has had the opportunity recently to fly in and out of Chicago to perform at The Baton, where Jim Flint is still the owner. After 45 years, they have been able to repair and continue their friendship. Often, while Dina is singing “My Way” or “Misty,” Jim gets emotional as they met, parted, and reunited, sharing a history so closely connected with the history of his bar.

     Dina arrived in Chicago in 1970, not realizing her talent, and Jim recognized her talents and built her self-confidence so that when she left in 1975 she could assert her talents in ways she could not a few years earlier. The foundation that Dina developed in Chicago became her foundation for the decades to come.

     Dina also gets emotional and thinks about her regrets in leaving when and how she did, causing the rift between them, and the loss of the time. She also recognizes the joy she experiences sharing the present and the past with Jim in each moment and relishing the fact that he enjoys her still, in 2020, after rescuing her at a critical 1970 moment where she needed rescuing.

     Dina lost a lot of friends to HIV and AIDS. When they were dying all around her, she kept losing parts of herself. Today she has regained those parts by taking the memories of those people into her present. Many of the people who have joined her for a season or two are still here and building additional memories to collect.

This book is available at www.amazon.com/author/larryponder in paperback, e-book, and audiblebook formats.