Until I Say Goodbye: A Book About Living (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Susan Spencer-Wendel shares her journey of health problems from being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) until her death. Susan shares how she chose to embrace life after a life-changing diagnosis. Susan shares how she developed her bucket list and the actual experiences while pursuing her bucket list. Susan valued her husband and their three children as well as friends and work colleagues. She spent quality time with people even as her health was declining. Susan displayed courage and determination to write this book while her health and physical capabilities were declining due to ALS. Susan is a role model for how to accept difficult life situations and to deal with them as best as possible. Susan cherished every day of her life after being diagnosed with ALS and she lived life to the fullest. This was a beautiful book. I picked it up on a whim while at the library getting something else and I am so glad I did. I found the author's writing to be expressive and often funny and touching. Her decision to choose joy in the face of this terrible terminal disease was an amazing example to me. She is straight-forward and pretty non-flinching in describing the deterioration of her life, but it is not maudlin.There are a few (but only a few) uses of strong and 'R-rated' profanity.I loved so many sections. Just a few favorite quotes:p140 Marina (her oldest daughter), you catapulted us into the parent years. That phase of life where days are interminable and years are over in an instant.At the end of the Mango Madness chapter, there is a lovely story about ladybugs, what they mean to Susan, and the gift she received.p299 I thought how fine my view at the top was, where I could see the color, the expanse of the sea. I actively tried to make it okay not to be able to get down there and swim and dance on the sand. That is the secret I learn more of every day. Not to want things I cannot have or cannot do. Remove the want, and you remove the pain.
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