Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

Recently a beloved nurse at my hospice passed away unexpectedly. It was shocking, even for a group of people who deal with death every single day. He loved theatre and travel, and was one of the best nurses I have ever worked with. He was only 60 years old. We had so much more to talk about. The same week he died, this book popped up in my Libby library app. "Memorial Days" by Geraldine Brooks is the story of how she learned of the unexpected death of her husband on the streets of Washington D.C. He was just 60 years old, too. These unexpected deaths almost seem like some cruel magic trick, which coincidentally collided in my life the same week. How was I to make sense of this? One minute the person is laughing, eating, working and planning for a future, and the next minute he is not. Sadly, there is no way to prepare for death, unexpected or anticipated due to illness. In the face of her grief, Brooks was not able to mourn in comfortable, safe and traditional way. Instead, she was faced with the nuts and bolts of death, which for her looked like frozen credit cards, cancelled insurance policies, and mountains of things to figure out as a fresh widow. The idea of actually going back to work, and writing for a living, paralyzed her. She was haunted by the life she had with her husband, which was robbed from her in a single phone call from a terse hospital employee. "Memorial Days" is her meditation on how she found a way to mourn her husband's death, and move forward with her own life. The grief will never go away but she finds a way to make it easier to hold. “Memorial Days” is a tribute to her late husband, as well as a testament to her own strength as a woman and a writer. As for my nurse, Patrick, we will miss you and you will never be forgotten. To buy this book on Amazon click here.