The Plot Thickens

Late last summer, my co-worker's daughter-in-law's mother (yes, I know that's quite a few degrees of separation) died after a fairly short, but valiant struggle with ovarian cancer. I didn't know this woman, but several things about this particular situation were striking to me. She was diagnosed just a few months before her daughter's wedding, and had completed her first round of chemotherapy just in time to escort her daughter down the ailse. Secondly, she died 16 months later, just days short of the birth of this same daughter's first child.

As I vicariously followed the progress of this woman's illness, I kept thinking what a horrible sadness this must be, to have to face the fact that you would likely never see this child of your child's, this continuation of the life you were about to leave behind.

It occurred to me that, if I were in this horrible dilemma, I would want to leave somthing behind for that baby, so he/she would have some little opportunity to know something about me, to hear my voice, so to speak.

What about letters? A book of letters, from the grandmother, to the unborn grandchild, the one she knows she will never meet?

And so, the idea for the book was born....