Mo Barrett

Pardon My Quirk Mo Barrett

In this heartfelt and witty collection of autobiographical anecdotes, Mo Barrett invites readers to keep laughing, learning and thinking through all of life's ups and downs.

As a retired Air Force Colonel, Mo reflects on defining moments, both poignant and comical, throughout her personal and professional life, from navigating the military as a gay female pilot to caring for her aging parents. Such moments include: Surviving a purple child-eating dragon at the community pool at the fragile age of fiveInappropriately groping instructors' legs (yes, that's plural) when learning how to stall an airplanePerforming in a female barbershop singing group inadvertently dressed as a Japanese drag queenShocking residents of small Central American villages by being a female pilotScoring for the wrong team (and playing for the other) and learning to not throw like a girl Proving her high school guidance counselor right by failing to get into the Air Force Academy (spoiler alert: eventually she gets in)

In Pardon My Quirk, Mo gracefully models how to find humor (and puns) in the face of adversity, uncovering deeper meaning that inspires growth, connection and optimism. Her grounded stories remind readers that we are more than our labels and that we all have something important to contribute in this world-we just have to pull our heads out and keep on smiling.