Elizabeth Scarboro, AB'91AuthorFrom our pages ("Releases," May–June/13): One summer in Boulder, Colorado, 17-year-old Elizabeth Scarboro fell in love with her high school classmate Stephen, who had blond shaggy hair, a leaned-back walk, and cystic fibrosis. Although her boyfriend was expected to live only until age 30, Scarboro chose to embrace the relationship, and the couple eventually married. In this memoir, the author traces the ten years she spent with Stephen before his death of CF complications. Tales from ordinary early married life—failed road trips and purchasing a small home beside a trash-filled lot—unfold against the ever-present background of her husband's illness. This was the week to read this book for me. Coming up to the one year anniversary of becoming a 29 year old "widow" myself. Most of it is writing about her experience with him and CF and hospitals, but it's the last 100 pages or so that was for me. I spent the evening reading and sobbing. And while part of me could just keep crying and crying, part of me feels a little more at peace, (though thinking that makes me tear up all over again). There were parts that were good for me to read and good for me to realize other people thought too. Grief is so unique and every loss is different. Her loss was still sudden but also expected in a way that Bubba's never was. But I think she helped me and I thank her for sharing and writing her story. Here are a couple of my favorite parts- "I was half glad and half disappointed that my body could just keep going." And this one- "though I carry where I've been with me in the deep way we all do, so deeply that carrying is the wrong word- it implies too much separation, the possibility that you can see the shape of it, like a suitcase, set it down. It runs through me, unnoticed until someone points it out." The book also reminds me of how thankful I am for all the people who took care of me and how my students took care of me like hers did as well.
What do You think about My Foreign Cities (2013)?
***I received a free copy of this book via goodreads giveaways***Be ready to cry
—DukeAlba
Beautifully written; reminds one to find and enjoy the good moments in life.
—paws611
Story of a young married couple and their life with cystic fibrosis.
—ahciscool
