"The Widow's Handbook"
'Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.'
This is the only thing on the last page found behind the epilogue of the memoir by Joyce Carol Oates, "A Widow's Story." Haven't started it yet. (Yes, when I read a book I read all of the cover copy first, and then, the last page. Not all the time, but usually.)
I have kept myself alive. Plus a little girl who was 21 months old and is now almost three. I know other women who are keeping three, four, or even five people alive in the midst of this. Here's to them.
As my husband liked to sign his emails,
Cheers.