Seven Languages in Seven Weeks

Dedication

The five months from December 2009 through April 2010 were among the most difficult of my life. My brother, not yet 47 years old, had emergency bypass surgery. No one had any clue that anything was wrong at all. (He came through the surgery without further incident and is doing well.) In late March, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. The biggest shock of all came in early March. My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A few short weeks later, she was gone.

As you would expect, I am left to struggle with the grief of a jarring and unexpected loss because of a brutally efficient disease. I would not be human otherwise. But strangely, this experience has not been an entirely negative one. You see, my mother was at peace ...