7 Days

You might have noticed I've been posting some excerpts from the book I'm working on, 7 Days. The purpose of these posts is to get them out in the real world and see what the reaction is. These are portions of the book that I'm working on, trying to see if they fit they way I want them to, to tell the story I mean to tell.

My story is not my father's story, but the story of living through death. 7 Days is the story of the last 7 days of my father's life. And the things I learned in those days. About him. About me. The growth in our lives and who we'd become. The things we learned only as a result of his death. 

The time I got to spend with my father during the last 7 days of his life was amazing, and held a great deal of unexpected growth. The laughter seemed out of place, but it was needed; it was healthy. The crying seemed cliché, but it was real; it was unabashed. The experience seemed surreal, and was anything but; it was life, in all its parts. And somehow we survived the parts we needed to, in order to let go of the parts we could take with us. Somehow, we grew. 

The experience of writing has been beautiful, cathartic, and momentous. I feel driven to write this book because in living those 7 days and the months prior, I needed someone to relate to and felt terribly alone. Losing a parent is never the same experience for any two people. But the emotions we feel along the way are vastly similar. The way in which we experience these emotions, the thoughts in our heads as the feelings flow through our bodies, give us the bond of being human, regardless of our differences. I want to offer this to people--someone, anyone--like me, or not. 

I look forward to your comments and feedback along the way.