First published 2013
Susan Spencer-Wendel receives her ALS diagnosis in June 2011 at age forty-five. The disease will destroy her nerves and muscles, leading to inevitable death, but she refuses to surrender to despair. This mother of three embarks on meaningful journeys to places that shaped her life. She travels to the Yukon with her best friend to witness the Northern Lights. She returns to Budapest, where she and her husband lived during their early marriage. She flies to Northern California to meet her birth mother and visits Cyprus to connect with her deceased birth father's homeland. Her most poignant adventure takes her to Kleinfeld's Bridal in New York City with her fourteen-year-old daughter Marina. Both fans of Say Yes to the Dress, they shop for Marina's future wedding dress, knowing Susan will never see the actual ceremony. As Marina emerges in white silk, Susan envisions her daughter's wedding day and wants Marina to remember her mother's smile and words of love. Spencer-Wendel transforms her terminal diagnosis into a celebration of life's precious moments, finding joy and laughter even while facing death.
Genres: biography, family-life, autobiography, memoir, 21st-century, inspirational, illness, disability
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, slice-of-life
Setting: Yukon, Budapest, Northern California, Cyprus, New York City
Period: 2011
368 pages · Hardcover · Harper
Content warnings: terminal-illness