The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After

by Julie Yip-Williams

The sense that we ever had control over any of this seems nothing but a mockery now, a cruel illusion. And also, a lesson: we control nothing. Well, that’s not exactly true. We control how good we are to people. We control how honest we are with ourselves and others. We control the effort we have put into living. We control how we respond to impossible news. And when the time comes, we control the terms of our surrender.

Control

And, by God, I will live with joy. After the bad news, I received many wonderful messages of support and love, from intimates as well as strangers. All of them lifted my spirit, and got me thinking that somehow my fight was also their fight, and the notion that I must continue to fight for them was incredibly beautiful to me, and in turn gives me the will to fight even more.

Encouragement