Growing up I watched reruns of The Brady Bunch. You remember, that all American blended family. Carole had 3 daughters. Mike had 3 sons. I always wondered, why were they single? I assumed it was a widow/widower situation.
The show spared us the details of what came before the bunch, and after reading The Color of Rain: how two families found faith, hope & love in the midst of tragedy by Michael and Gina Spehn, I am thankful the details were left out.
At times I wanted to put this book down. Not because it was poorly written and a lack of interest, but because it was so damn sad. From the prologue I was hooked. It may be one of the most vivid and gripping three paragraphs I've read in decades. A memoir, with alternating chapters written by Gina, who looses her husband to cancer when he is 36 years old, and chapters written by Michael, who also looses his wife, suddenly to brain cancer.
Raw emotion, vivid attention to detail. Pithy chapters. You will keep turning the pages, often with tears welling up in your eyes. A bit too heavy on the religious beliefs in parts, it is a moving memoir of people moving through tragedy, children in tow, and into a new, hopeful beginning. After reading it you will appreciate all the little things in life, even those that might usually annoy you.
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