Once More We Saw Stars

I was absolutely blown away by this book. It was so moving to me as a parent. What a graceful, melodic writer is Jayson Greene. I just finished reading this memoir (just took a day) and I'm wanting to google Jayson Greene, Stacy, and Harrison Greene to see if they are all safe--if they are all right and happy. Susan, too. The story of Greta's short life was heartbreaking to me as a parent of two boys, now aged 20 and 23; the parents in this memoir paid such extraordinary attention to the constructive grieving for their daughter, Greta; I was so impressed in the way that they honored her - they were selfless, all the while paying attention to friends and family and holding their marriage dear in the middle of such oppressive grief. Even remembering to honor the memory of Greta at the news of her new brother Harrison's pending entry into this world, a brother who would never know his sister on an earthly level- spiritual maybe, something the parents had been desperately seeking with trips to grief retreats in the Berkshires and to the southwest, through grief counselors and mediums.

I'll bring up a sad comparison--when I had just given birth to my second child, I felt so worried about my first child, my older son Ian, that he would feel threatened and less special with the birth of his new brother, but these parents were forced to honor their dead daughter's memory and legacy at the news of their new pregnancy. I constantly worry about my children's safety; recently an air conditioning unit almost fell out of one of their windows, before my husband noticed and tightened the brackets.

If we could all be such good, compassionate human beings like the Greene's in the face of such unspeakable tragedy. A sad true story that will take your breath away and make you hold your children tightly at your breast (or chest or clavicle), no matter their age.