His new program was met with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. Lots of patients reported they felt mentally and physically better after they had participated in the arrangements for their passing. It gave them a sense of control and reassurance, and an invaluable opportunity to derive their own meaning from their short journeys on earth. - P2
As I listened to the clicks of her heels fade away, I wondered if divorce would be any easier the second time around. - P3
The obituary-writing program first helped me on a practical level. It diverted my attention from divorce. My thoughts, which until now had raced back to my husband and our fallen marriage again and again like a faithful dog, began to dwell on the lives of others. - P3
Three is the magical number that people tend to fall for. A single word seems impossibly limiting, while two may feel unpalatable, as if they imply a double life. But three suggests a perfect balance, as in triumvirate and trilogy and trinity. People feel comfortable with it- neither too little nor too much. - P4
Mook Miran was a strange-looking woman with an equally strange name - it was my first time meeting a Korean with the last name Mook. She had big frizzy hair, which was entirely and evenly white, and it hung around her head like a halo. Her limbs were long and thin like a snow crab‘s. Under the fluorescent light I felt I could read her body like a map. Veins showed through her translucent skin, like crisscrossed mountain paths, mostly mauve and pale blue. The bleaching light also drew a pair of butterfly-like shadows under her high cheekbones. - P6
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