photo from Jordan
I can?t remember the last book I devoured as quickly as When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. I fought back, hard, against the tears that wanted to pour from my eyes as I read his wife, Lucy?s, epilogue at the conclusion of the book on the airplane.
This may be the kind of book you want to finish in private, so you can just cry.
I heard about this book through Joanna Goddard, the blogger at A Cup of Joe, a blog I?ve read on and off for about a year or so. Paul was her brother-in-law, he married Joanna?s twin sister. So I felt a little bit of familiarity in reading it, knowing who Joanna is through her blog.
I also felt an unusual connection given Justin?s health situation, which you can watch here. Justin?s is so far in the opposite direction from Paul?s illness that the only thing that could possibly bind the two is that their disease both starts with the letter ?c?. Other than that, they?ve had nearly opposite circumstances with it. It is unimaginable to me, even after reading his book which walked the reader through much of his internal dialogue, how one endures such a grueling sickness. I just can?t imagine how every moment of your day would be immediately affected upon discovering the news.
It left a heavy feeling in my heart, but one I appreciated time to mull over while I was alone on the airplane.
It made me think about the kinds of things I would look back on in my life with fondness, and the things that would suddenly mean absolutely nothin...