Who is Erma Bomback from the nonfiction book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?

Author of the book, Bombeck is a woman who believes fully in her need to see the humor in life but is also willing to see the sadness and despair, saying that it makes her more able to appreciate the rest. Bombeck is married and has three children, and she freely admits that there came a point in her life when she was no longer fulfilled and happy spending her days caring for a home. When that time came, Bombeck set out to find a fuller life and says that it was "my turn." With a tendency toward making light of most situations, she also writes several essays that are nostalgic and it is in these that another aspect of her nature shows through. Here, Bombeck admits to longing for a pause in time so that she does not have to take over as the caregiver for her mother or to watch as her children break free and become independent. Her humor is such that many mothers will identify with the stories and her slant on the various aspects of everyday life. She takes those everyday moments—the discovery of her son's gym clothes that have not been washed for ages—and adds a mother's perspective—that the clothes walked into the laundry room on their own, figuratively begging for her help. It is noted at the front of this book that Bombeck is author of a series of similar books and that the essays that make up the majority of this book were written over the course of several years of Bombeck's journalism career.