The Letter: My Journey Through Love, Loss, and Life (edition 2012)

I can honestly say that this is the best book I've read this year. A must read for anyone who wants a reminder that life is short and what you do with your time here is important, and a decision you must make daily. It was tear-jerking in many places, but overall a story about grief and becoming the person you are meant to be. ( )

The Tillman story has been told by many people however, The Letter, is Marie Tillman's story is different. This story is very moving and if you are looking for any new sensational details, you won't find them here. I found that this book is must read for someone who lost someone and may help with moving on after a death. I feel that Tillman does a great job telling her story without going into gory details. ( )

The Letter- My Journey through Love, Loss & Life by Marie Tillman was her touching love story and the gift he husband Pat gave her. I was reading another book that happened to be in the bedroom where my husband was sleeping and I did not want to wake him so I grabbed this book out of my library bag of books and once I started reading I could not stop. I read the book the in one sitting. This book is one that left me feeling so many things. It is so personal and you see Marie in times of raw emotion. I found this hard to read at times not because it was not good but as a military spouse she was living the things of my nightmares. I felt bad that she was not allowed to grieve in peace and that the horrors of the circumstances with the investigation into his death and it being so public. I felt bad that she had a husband the Army deemed high profile and because of his football career and was sad to see that they could not be honest to her about his death because of politics. I feel that honesty should be owed to a family for it is they who sacrifice and it is they who lost a loved one that will leave a void the size of the Grand Canyon in their life. I learned that people say things in times of loss that are just crazy for instance at the memorial those trying to comfort her said your young you will find somebody else and thankfully you had no children. I was out raged when I read this but Marie gracefully taught me a valuable lesson I will quote her “Most of the time people didn’t even catch the inappropriateness of their comments, but occasionally, after seeing the look on my face they understood the error of their words. I soon realized I shouldn’t take these things personally. At such painful moments, some people unknowingly project their deepest fears on to you, the widowed. “I found this very profound. I was also reminded that grief has not time frame as Marie pointed out that in the 19th century, people properly understood mourning, widows dressed in black and they were allowed to mourn fully for four years. Today society we are saying you will find someone else at the memorial and a time is given to be moved by. She pointed out that “even after September 11th one of the most devastating days in our country’s history, flags hung at half mast at the White House for two weeks and then as a signal to the nation to “ move on” they were raised to full. While reading this I thought how true this is and that each person handles grief in different ways but as the months and years go by I need to be more aware the grief is still there for those I know who have a loss. What I loved about this book even though it dealt with a tough subject of grief it was also the subject of love. Pat Tillman loved his wife so that his request should he be killed during war was for me please live. He gave her a gift and a purpose to sustain her during the darkest part of her life. I remember reading that Pat had shown her over their many years together that love was about setting the other free. He loved her that much how lucky was she. The book is divided up into three parts each one about the years and what when on during those years. I hate to give this book a rating because it is a person’s life that is so exposed at such a raw time. I know that she wrote this book to help others with their grief. I loved getting to know Pat in a more personal way through the loving eyes of his wife. I was so sad when she was going through pictures and realized they would soon be out of style and that Pat would always be forever 27 and she was older sometimes finality just sucks . I thought that is a huge void and something I had never thought of before. I am glad I read this book but to be honest again I hate having to rate this book, how do rate a person’s life loss and growth? Just remember that I could not put the book down and I read it in one sitting and on this fact alone I am going to give it five stars. ( )