This book documents my personal journey before, during, and after I had a mastectomy on September 4, 2009. This account is not meant to be a "How-to-Turn-Negative-into-Positive-in-Nine-Easy-Steps" kind of book. Rather, it is a "how-to" book only in that it demonstrates how to, while on a difficult journey and in life in general, cultivate an attitude of receptivity and openness to guidance from both the seen and unseen and to involve community. I can only speak to the first steps, that of receptivity and community. The next steps must be discovered/unveiled by each person on such a journey,...

Emma, a 70-year-old minister's wife, is led on a quest to uncover long-lost strands of her identity. This story is about resolution of the age-old conflict (particularly for women) between living a life for oneself and living a life for others. The story begins just after Emma's surprise 70th birthday party, when she suddenly confronts a childhood self she has spent decades repressing. Her cousin Diana, the last living relative in Emma's generation from her biological family (Emma was adopted at age 6) comes to the U.S. from Ireland to attend. On Diana's invitation, Emma suddenly leaves...