W
hen I first agreed to collaborate on a book with nine bereaved mothers, I did so with mixed feelings. As a mother myself, I worried that their sorrow might overwhelm me.
And as I came to know the nine lost children intimately through their mothers, I would occasionally drive home in tears, reliving what could have been had these young people been given more time on earth.
My coauthors have opened their broken hearts, so that other bereaved parents might find comfort. Each of the nine is far stronger and has a greater capacity to love life than even they fully acknowledge or are perhaps too uncertain to admit even to themselves. I admire their indomitable courage.
I thank them for letting me share their innermost thoughts and emotions. They held nothing back and I am richer for having seen this too often incomprehensible world through their eyes.
BEYOND TEARS, REVISED EDITION. Copyright © 2004, 2009 by Ellen Mitchel, Carol Barkin, et al. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
eISBN 9781429933551
First eBook Edition : March 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beyond tears : living after losing a child / Carol Barkin … [et al.] ; as told to Ellen Mitchell.—Rev. ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-54519-2
ISBN-10: 0-312-54519-3
1. Bereavement—Psychological aspects. 2. Children—Death—Psychological aspects. 3. Mothers—Psychology. I. Barkin, Carol, 1943–II. Mitchell, Ellen, 1938–
BF575.G7B482 2009
155.9’37—dc22
2008049931
First Revised Edition: March 2009