When he was a young adult my cousin shot himself. He left behind three very young children, parents, three sisters and friends and extended kin with many questions, no answers.
If you've lost a loved one to suicide you know that it's not like any other kind of death. We don't have language to talk about it. It's a topic we tiptoe around, if mention at all. We especially don't talk about it with our teens and young adults out of fears we'll put ideas in their head...
...but for too many the ideas are already there until living gets too hard and they pull the trigger or swallow the pills and leave grieving relatives and friends with many questions, no answers.
Silence enables a vicious cycle that we as a society need to break. In this context Sarah Everett's How To Live Without You is a much needed breath of fresh air.
Emmy and her older sister are inseparable Even after they were split up in their parents' divorce, Rose staying in her home with their father and Emmy moving thousands of miles away with their mother, they did their best to keep the relationship up. They made a list of exotic places that they plan to explore together. Rose is never going to leave Emmy...
...until she does. And it isn't like previous times when she's disappeared for a few days. Emmy goes back to her hometown to talk to the people in Rose's circle and search for clues.
The more Emmy learns the more she's tormented by painful maybes. Maybe she wasn't as close to Rose as she believed. Maybe Rose wasn't as happy and confident as she appeared.
Maybe Rose is somewhere Emmy can't join her.
I would highly recommend this book for high school juniors and seniors and college students. It distills solid timely non judgmental information within the context of a gripping plot. I would also recommend it way beyond its target demographic to parents, teachers, professors, guidance counselors, mental health professionals, and anyone else who works with and cares about teens and young adults.
On a purrrsonal note, today at UMaine it was Black Bears Care Day. Tables lined the sunny Union atrium while music from a live band filled the air. Students engaged in fun activities--I think bracelet making was the most popular--while learning important self care, mental health, and suicide prevention information. People who got their passports stamped at six tables were eligible for a lottery with super prizes. There was good food. Attendance was quite high and students were highly engaged.
A great big shout out goes out to all who made Black Bears Care Day truly engaging and memorable.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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