Laura Fahrenthold and her husband Mark Pittman were soulmates.
Mark Pittman the award-winning reporter whose flight to make the Federal Reserve more accountable to taxpayers led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died November 25, 2009 in Yonkers, New York. He was 52.
(p. 49)How do you carry on when the glue that held your life together is gone?
Mark's death leaves Laura directionless and overwhelmed. Then she meets the "Deli man" who tells her...
"A change of scenery is good for people, you know... It can make you remember who you are and help decide a new direction in life." (p. 92)Laura puts her husband's ashes in a box, buys Harvey the RV and together with her teenage daughters, travels to parts of the United States and eastern Canada. To pay tribute to Mark's memory, they sprinkling Mark's ashes. But some of the places Laura chooses to sprinkle are unsettling, for example, on food she serves at a party.
This is what happens when you take your husband's ashes on the road. You meet the kindest of strangers, people who will forever hold an incredibly important place in your heart and family's history and who will never be forgotten.
They are the teachers. (p. 129 - 130)
Grief is a long process and this book spans four years but Laura eventually is able to let Mark go.
[L]ove guides us even when we sometimes feel hopeless and lost. (p. 281)
Laura writes honestly and openly about the many varied shades of grief. She has the gift of being able to add humour to heart crunching scenes.
I received my copy of this book from Penguin Random House Canada.
Published by
Penguin Random House/Hatherleigh Press
Next Post...
Sunday, February 17 at approximately 5 PM PT
Answering Machine (short story) by Leanne Dyck
