Love is Forever

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes, 30 seconds

After several minutes, she agreed to my request and said that our marriage and her relationship would stay as they were for two weeks.

Her response was both a surprise and a relief, which I thought would be easy to implement.

At the time, she was not working. Most days, I would leave for work before she woke up. The notes I wrote her over those two weeks were longer and more passionate than any I wrote before or after. Not sure if my love notes made a difference, but I put my entire heart and soul into each one of them.  

One Day at a Time

We did our first shift together on the ambulance squad. It was a quiet night with only two calls. Every time I attempted to join a conversation, everyone stopped talking. The evening was like walking on thin ice. I wrote a note to Jan suggesting we might want to see if they could get someone to cover our next shift. She nodded her head yes.

The next day I called the crew chief on a work break and asked to skip our shift. He said yes, but then said, “With everything going on with the two of you, it is probably a good idea not to be on the same shift.” I avoided responding as I did not want to know what he knew.

On Thursday of the first week, I met a friend on my way home on the subway. We chatted as best we could on the train. When my stop came, I said I would go to her stop and walk her home. As we walked to her apartment, she asked how I was doing. She handed me a Kleenex. I started to weep as no words could come from my mouth.

She said she was sorry that our marriage was having problems. She then offered me two pieces of advice. People usually cheat because they are missing something in the relationship, and you have to find out what that is.

I nodded and mumbled that I was trying to understand and accept my responsibility. My friend offered to help if I needed to talk.

Her second piece of advice shocked me. “We were all surprised! I wanted to know more, but we had reached her house. His reputation is one of using and abusing women, and the last two girlfriends have restraining orders against him.

My mind raced faster than a home run out of Yankee Stadium. If she divorced me and then he abused her, would I have enough love and strength to help her? Would she even let me? She could divorce me, but that would not stop me from loving her. If you love someone, you need to be there for them when they need you, not when you need them.

The Last Weekend

As the end of the two weeks approached, I was exhausted and weak. I had hardly slept, and my stomach was so upset that liquid Pepto Bismol became my preferred drink. I felt deep in my soul that I had lost the love of my life.

Sunday, when the two-week period ended, I was one hundred percent sure she would ask for a divorce, and I had role-played it in front of the bathroom mirror to ensure I did not cry. If she was leaving me, I knew I needed to be strong enough to accept it in a way that would allow me to be there for her if her new boyfriend abused her. As much as I practiced, tears still flowed like an open fire hydrant on Maujer Street.

The last Saturday, we went to an event for the ambulance squad where we were both squad members and served on the board. Her boyfriend was a member but not on the board. 

I was nervous about going as it would be the first time I would be with her when her boyfriend was also present. Because I had heard from many people about the affair, I was sure they would know more about her relationship and its likely devastating impact on our marriage than I did.

Jan put on a beautiful new dress I had bought for her and insisted we go. When we arrived, everyone greeted me with hugs and back slaps. They whispered to me, but loud enough for Jan to hear that they did not like it when people intentionally hurt me. 

When I stood up to speak about the importance of community and volunteerism, I realized her boyfriend was not at the event. Among the topics in my speech was the importance of commitment to our neighbors and community. Everyone liked my address and clapped for what seemed like forever, and I felt I was in a room full of friends.

After the event, we helped clean up the hall. I almost cried when I walked by the payphone I used to make my first call to her. We walked out with Ricky and Margie, hugged me, and waved at Jan.

We parted and began what I was sure was our last walk home as a married couple. We turned right on Graham Avenue and headed north. We talked about the evening. She kept saying how excellent my speech was. I wanted to ask if she had heard the word commitment but chose not to ask.

When we turned left on Ainslie Street, our conversation ended. I wanted to tell her I loved her but was afraid I would cry. We had walked home this way so often; it felt like loving memories surrounded us.

I broke the silence as we turned right onto Lorimer Street, only a half block from our apartment. “I am sorry your boyfriend wasn’t there tonight, and I am sure you would have enjoyed the event more if he had been there.”

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Never Forget Our People Were Always Free

Read: March 2024

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Never Forget Our People Were Always Free

by Ben Jealous

Today, I started reading “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing” by Ben Jealous, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club. The book highlights how the path to healing America’s broken heart begins with each of us having the courage to heal ourselves. According to Mr. Jealous, it would be transformative if every American treated each other as cousins.

Ben Jealous is the son of parents who had to leave Maryland because their cross-racial marriage was illegal.

I briefly met Ben Jealous last May when I went to Washington with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism‘s Day of Action. When I saw Mr. Jealous speaking at Temple Emanu-El in neighboring Westfield, I immediately signed up to attend in person. He is an inspiration as an advocate for the environment, civil rights, and the healing of America’s broken heart.

His lively, courageous, and empathetic storytelling calls on every American to look past deeply cut divisions and recognize that we are all in the same boat now. Along the way, Jealous grapples with hidden American mysteries, including:

  • Why do white men die from suicide more often than black men die from murder?
  • How did racial profiling kill an American president?
  • What happens when a Ku Klux Klansman wrestles with what Jesus said?
  • How did Dave Chappelle know the DC Snipers were Black?
  • Why shouldn’t the civil rights movement give up on rednecks?
  • When is what we have collectively forgotten about race more important than what we know?
  • What do the most indecipherable things our elders say tell us about ourselves?

The book Never Forget Our People Were Always Free is told through parables. It features intimate glimpses of political and faith leaders such as Jack Kemp, Stacey Abrams, and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The book also highlights unlikely heroes such as a retired constable, a female pirate from Madagascar, a long-lost Irishman, a death row inmate, and a man with a Confederate flag over his heart.

Never Forget Our People Were Always Free offers readers hope that America’s oldest wounds can heal and her oldest divisions can be overcome.

Although I have only read a handful of pages of the book, I highly recommend it!

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Parable of the Talents

Read: January 2024

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Parable of the Talents

by Octavia E. Butler

This morning, I completed reading Octavia E. Butler‘s acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel Parable of the Sower and immediately started reading its sequel, Parable of the Talents, initially published in 1998. This second book is even more relevant today than it was back then. The novel’s timely message of hope and resistance in the face of fanaticism is shockingly prescient.

In 2032, Lauren Olamina survived the destruction of her home and family. She envisioned a peaceful community in Northern California, which she established based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. This new settlement provides a haven for outcasts who face persecution following the election of an ultra-conservative president. The new president pledges to “make America great again,” but the country becomes increasingly divided and dangerous. Lauren’s subversive colony, a minority religious faction led by a young black woman, becomes a target for President Jarret’s oppressive regime characterized by terror and discrimination.

In the future, Asha Vere discovers the journals of her mother, Lauren Olamina, whom she never met. As she delves into her mother’s writings, she grapples with the conflict between Lauren’s responsibilities to her chosen family and her mission to guide humanity toward a brighter tomorrow.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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Ripe: A Novel

Read: July 2023

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Ripe: A Novel by Sarah Rose Etter

by Sarah Rose Etter

I started reading “Ripe: A Novel” by Sarah Rose Etter today. This book has won awards and is highly praised by Roxane Gay for its uniqueness and brilliance. It tells the story of a woman in Silicon Valley who must choose how much she will sacrifice for success. Fans of “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” and “Her Body and Other Parties” will enjoy this surreal tale.

Cassie has worked at a Silicon Valley start-up for a year but feels stuck in a corporate nightmare. The long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects are taking a toll on her. She has a hard time reconciling the stark contrast between the abundance of wealth and the poverty and suffering that exist side by side in the city. Cassie observes Ivy League graduates complaining about snack options in a conference room overlooking unhoused people bathing in the bay. She’s witnessed start-up burnouts who throw themselves in front of commuter trains and men who light themselves on fire in the streets.

Even though Cassie is often by herself, she never feels entirely alone. Since she can remember, she has had a tiny black hole that is always with her. This black hole feeds off her feelings of sadness and worry, getting bigger or smaller depending on how much she struggles. While it watches her, it also waits patiently. Its powerful force keeps pulling Cassie closer as everything in her life seems to fall apart.

Cassie finds herself pregnant unexpectedly while dealing with her CEO’s illegal demands. She must weigh the benefits of Silicon Valley against the risks. Ripe follows the journey of one millennial woman through the absurdities of modern life, offering a sharp yet vulnerable, unsettling yet darkly comic commentary on our late-capitalist hellscape.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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Hurricane Season

Read: September 2024

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Hurricane Season

by Fernanda Melchor

Hurricane Season‘ by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes, is a literary gem acknowledged by the New York Times as one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. The story opens with the discovery of a dead witch in a village, leading to an investigation into her murder. As the novel unfolds, it offers a unique perspective on the lives of the villagers, each narrating the story from their point of view.

This unique portrayal of the characters, each with flaws and virtues, uncovers new details and acts of depravity. Despite the characters being seen as irredeemable, Melchor extracts some shred of humanity from them, creating a lasting portrait of a doomed Mexican village. This deep connection to Mexican culture is a significant aspect of the novel that will surely resonate with readers interested in this topic.

Hurricane Season” draws significant literary inspiration from Roberto Bolaño‘s “2666” and Faulkner‘s novels. Like these works, it is set in a world filled with mythology and actual violence that seeps into the surroundings, creating a connection that makes it more terrifying the deeper you explore it.

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How to Read a Book: A Novel

Read: May 2024

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How to Read a Book: A Novel

by Monica Wood

I started reading Monica Wood‘s “How to Read a Book: A Novel” today. It’s a heartfelt and uplifting story about a chance encounter at a bookstore—the novel delves into themes of redemption, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories. With Monica Wood’s characteristic heart, wit, grace, and understanding, the novel illuminates the decisions that shape a life and the kindnesses that make life meaningful.

The story revolves around three characters: Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, who is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher; Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club and is facing the prospect of an empty nest; and Frank Daigle, a retired machinist who is struggling to come to terms with the complexities of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

Their lives unexpectedly intersect one morning in a bookstore in Portland, Maine. Violet buys the novel she read in the prison book club before her release, Harriet selects the following title for the remaining women, and Frank fulfills his duties as the store handyman. Their encounters set off a chain of events that will profoundly change them.

How to Read a Book is a candid and hopeful story about releasing guilt, embracing second chances, and the profound impact of books on our lives.

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Being Mortal

Read: August 2019

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Being Mortal

by Atul Gawande

Before departing for Toronto to celebrate our 44th Wedding Anniversary, I went through the e-library. Everything on my list that I wanted to read was not available except for this book. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande is the book I read on our vacation before Jan’s diagnosis of non-Hodgkins Large B cell Lymphoma.

Selecting Being Mortal might seem an accidental choice to some, and I believe it was a divine intervention. It prepared me to be a caregiver to my wife over the nineteen months of her fight with cancer. It helped me focus on the good life that my wife lived and not the pain and suffering.

Atul Gawande describes his book as “riveting, honest, and humane, Being Mortal shows that the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life – all the way to the very end.”

When I read the book, I wondered what I could have done to help my mother in her final years. The book provides an excellent overview of how nursing homes and assisted living have not been able to meet the needs of the residents.

Dr. Gawande provides an extensive overview of the benefits of hospice. Although I knew of this option, reading this book helped me understand that I was ready for hospice when my wife came home for the last time.

He reminds us that “when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should.” As he writes in the book, the current system does not work and, in many cases, actually shortens life.

This book has had a lasting impact on my life. It allowed me to be a loving caregiver to my wife when she needed it more than anything else. I read it when it would be most beneficial to me.

I highly recommend this book.


The Jan Lilien Education Fund sponsors ongoing sustainability and environmental awareness programs. Gifts made this month; I will match dollar-for-dollar. All donations are tax-deductible.

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