I'm so sorry to hear that about your sister. My condolences. Can't imagine how frustrating it must've been, for someone to be so active, and suddenly not be able to. Though I do think being physically active is a valuable resource, one that (I imagine and hope) can power you even through illness.
Yes, I heartily recommend Shriver. She is frightfully intelligent and an extremely good novelist. She's the kind of writer who can piss me off how much I disagree with her (she's also a political/social commentator), yet I still have to admit it's usually a flawless write-up.
Her "Should We Stay or Should We go" is also terrific, as is (my personal favorite) "The Post-Birthday World". Really recommend both if you like the notion of alternate realities, and what-if moments.
Thanks - and I'll add Shriver to my reading list!
Three sisters down, then our dad. So, I escape via fiction, and alternate realities sound great.
Oh those "what-if" moments.
I have to stop going there.
It's hard to shake the idea that it should have been me, not my marathon-running sister.....
No. Never. Besides, who are you to say how it Should've been? Don't think like that, my friend. It brings no good and they sure as hell wouldn't want you to.
It's mystifying - who lives healthy yet dies young, and who smokes, drinks, drives without a seatbelt, and lives on and on and on. It's not about merit or purpose. So often, the first to die seem to be the most productive and generous people, parents with young children, volunteers, people with special talents and gifts. This week, one of the really good guys (and extraordinary photographer, WWII fighter pilot, volunteer) died at home on his 101st birthday. A good guy made it -- not just 100 but to 101! Yay!
But in the same week, a 13-year-old boy died from a sledding accident. His twin sister and his parents burying him in the January snow...
Nope, it's never fair.