Remembrance of Joan Didion

So sad to learn of Joan Didion’s death. When my husband died sixteen years ago as a result of an automobile accident and my mother died five hours later, Joan Didion’s book The Year of Magical Thinking was part of my healing process. I have always felt indebted to Joan after reading her book and discovering the trauma’s she was living through. I’ll never forget her saying, “Life changes fast, Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” In essence, “life can turn on a dime” and it does.

Joan’s husband died suddenly while sitting at the dinner table and I too suddenly and unexpectedly became a widow. Weeks after my husband’s death I flew alone to Paris. Paris has always been a favorite city of mine. I wandered the streets and visited museums. In between I read The Year of Magical Thinking.  Her book gave me comfort and helped me begin the healing process. I returned to New York in a better frame of mind. I followed a different path than Joan but I did emotionally mend. Ironically, although a speech language pathologist professionally, I began my next chapter of my life as an author/playwright having written two plays, Keep Walking and Hide and Seek, a novel, The Unexpected Connection, and a children’s book, Let’s Be Kind Again. I don’t think I will ever match Joan Didion expertise and success. I will always remember Joan Didion and may she rest in peace.