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I went to a daylong literary event recently and came away with more than inspiration, knowledge, and new books.

I heard someone say that Ann Patchett’s book ‘Bel Canto’ was a happy book.

Now, perhaps, I will have the courage to read it…It was my mother’s nightstand book before a stroke sent her to a rehab facility for 5 months, and she never read again.

I thought ‘Bel Canto’ was about terrorists. Like the strokes that disabled, then disappeared  my mother from this earth.

Today is the 7th anniversary of the final catastrophic stroke. Her last day on earth was just after Father’s Day and the family’s effort at celebration. I believe she left us so that we could focus on him – like she always did.

If Ann Patchett’s book has a happy ending, I want to read it. I’ll affirm what  my heart has always felt: my mother’s story has a happy ending, a passage from earth to heaven.