I picked up Melissa Nathan’s book, The Learning Curve, to read last night, and as I was leafing through the first few info pages, I came across this heart-breaking dedication:
I am in the unusual position of knowing that this book will in all probability, be published posthumously. And so, please indulge me in a rather unusual set of acknowledgements.
First, to my wonderful parents. You have given me a life suffused with love, support, and friendship. I have been lucky enough to see eye to eye with you both and look up to you at the same time. You are two of my best friends. Please never feel that I have had a hard life. I have had thirty seven wonderful years and I’m grateful to you both for giving me that. I am happy and at peace.To Jeremy. It turned out that our dynamic was to be that of doctor and patient. I never would have chosen it to be that way, but there it was. You were always there for me, from the first phone call I made when I was nineteen, telling you I’d found a lump, right through to – and beyond – the night you stayed in hospital with me, sleeping on an inflatable lilo on the floor when I had my first mastectomy, some seventeen years later.
You have been everything a brother could have been and more. Thank you.
My Wonderful Andrew. I respect you as much as I love you, and that is saying something. You of all people I know, will get through this. After all you’ve got through nearly twelve years of marriage with me, and that’s no easy feat.
I have been so lucky to know you. You have been my steady rock, my gentle giant, my best friend, my everything. I wish you a happy life full of love and joy.
And my amazing Sammy. I wanted to know you for longer, my love, but it wasn’t to be. Still, at only three years old, you have already left an imprint on my heart, that will go with me, wherever it is going. Motherhood made my life worthwhile, and you gave me that.
What does a mother wish for her son? I wish you happiness. You have a wonderful daddy, and a family who adores you. Go into the world knowing that while you were everything to your mother, you wont have to deal with an annoying woman who can’t stop kissing you when you’re fifteen. I will be in the sky, kissing you from afar.
Melissa Nathan died in the April of this year, two months after this book was published
Dawn
August 10
1:47 pm
That is just so moving.
nicoletterivers
August 10
1:56 pm
Wow, not much that can be said to that.
Tilly Greene
August 10
2:50 pm
Oh man, I didn’t know…I found her with Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field, what a hoot. How sad.
HelenKay
August 10
6:07 pm
Wow. Kind of puts everything back into perspective…
Jade James Truth or Dare
August 10
6:40 pm
Shit. I’m crying.
Katie
August 10
7:18 pm
I am crying too, that’s the most moving, beautiful dedication I’ve ever read. Thanks Karen for posting it!
Valeen
August 10
7:26 pm
That is so sad! I’m teary. How hard it would be to write that at the time.
Lori
August 10
7:50 pm
OMGoodness. That brought tears to my eyes. That is beautiful. And sad.
Eve Vaughn
August 10
9:57 pm
That is heartbreaking, but a very touching tribute.
Ann Wesley Hardin
August 10
10:38 pm
*bawling*
Kristie (J)
August 11
1:57 am
I agree – that is so heartbreaking.
Stacy~
August 11
11:37 am
Oh that is sad. But how lovely of her to write such a dedication page.
Jaci Burton
August 11
2:21 pm
That’s heartbreaking. But what beautiful words to leave for her son.
LaShaunda
August 11
3:04 pm
WOW!
I’ve never heard of her or her book, so you know I want it now.
As newly pregnant woman, I’m very emotional now, but the thought of writing words like this to my children tears me up.
What a beautiful tribute. That’s one of things I love about books, they are legacies you leave behind.
Thanks for sharing this Karen. It made my day.
Rosie
August 11
4:22 pm
I’ve teared up with the rest of you. It takes so much courage to acknowledge one’s illness and the inevitable outcome…really it does.
I admire her so much for her book dedication and for the acceptance and peace she was able to give to her loved ones. What a special lady!
Devonna
August 12
11:18 pm
That’s heartbreakingly beautiful. What a tremendous, brave thing for her to do…and what loving words to leave for those she left behind.
I never heard of her before ~ now I want to run out and read everything she’s written.
Bam
August 13
2:11 am
Aw, crap, I’m crying too!
And here I was thinking that my life sucks ’cause I don’t have enough cash to buy a burrito and the place down the street doesn’t take ATM and Tim is sleeping, so I don’t want to take cash from his wallet.
I’m a shallow, evil person.
Kate R
August 13
2:52 am
It was okay til I hit the last one. Now I have to go be annoying and kiss my fifteen-year-old
Ann Wesley Hardin
August 14
12:13 am
God bless her. She achieved immortality by being published and, unfortunately, had to use that gift to communicate graven words to her family. Talk about a bittersweet blessing.
I wrote a dedication in Layover to my father, and both my brothers, who had died before the book came out. So I have a slight sense of the importance of this to her. I was communicating with the deceased, she with the living. We were both talking to people we would be permanently separated from. It’s a hard thing to do. But gratifying. I’m sure she’s thankful she was able to do so.
RIP.
~Ann