Tom Hart

The true story of how Tom Hart and his wife Leela survive the sudden death of their toddler daughter, Rosalie. I had forgotten that was what it was about after adding it to my "to read" list a long time ago... a hard read for an attempt at a relaxing Christmas Day, but it made me appreciate my own daughter and feel less alone in losses of my own. I have been down the grief hole and sometimes I'm not even sure whether I've completely climbed out.

This made sense to me as a book about early grief, as in, every memory of Rosalie before the day she died was a good one. It made me wonder, though, about less-than-perfect moments. Did Hart have any regrets about things he'd done as a father (other than wondering whether there were impending signs of Rosalie's death)? Were there difficult things about Rosalie (other than that she didn't like being contained, and that she was often sick before her sudden death)? Since I'm the type of person who has obsessed over what I could have done differently in loss situations, I wondered whether Hart experienced any of that, but maybe he is just not that kind of person. I also really wanted to know how the loss of Rosalie has affected the raising of their second daughter, Molly Rose, but recognize that is a different story.… (more)