The Fact That I Lost My Son

I'm Not Terribly Conversant With Children's Literature In General. I Tend To Read Books For Adults, Being An Adult.

I've Always Been Interested In Medicine And Was Pleased When My Brother Became A Doctor. But After Thinking Seriously About That Field, I Realized That What Intrigued Me Was Not The Science, Not The Chemistry Or Biology Of Medicine, But The Narrative - The Story Of Each Patient, Each Illness.

You Will Be Faced, Now, With Pain Of A Magnitude That None Of Us Here Can Comprehend Because It Is Beyond Our Experience. The Receiver Himself Was Not Able To Describe It, Only To Remind Us That You Would Be Faced With It, That You Would Need Immense Courage.

I Was A Sidelines Child: Never Class President, Never Team Captain, Never The One With The Most Valentines In My Box.

I Often Compare Myself As A Kid To My Own Grandchildren, Who Are Around 11 And 14 Now. That's The Age Kids Usually Read My Book. And I Remember Myself, We'd Gone Through A World War. My Father Was An Army Officer So I Was Aware Of What Was Going On. But I Wasn't Bombarded With Images Of Catastrophe Like Many Kids Are Today.