Life's That Way by Jim Beaver

On March 3, 2004 Cecily April Adams died of lung cancer, leaving behind her devoted husband, actor Jim Beaver and 2-year-old daughter Madeline Rose Beaver, who had recently been diagnosed with autism. This book is the story of their struggle with the disease, with Maddie's diagnosis and with grieving the loss of a wife and mother.

Two days after Cecily's initial diagnosis Jim began writing a nightly email to update friends and family on everything that was going on. This email started going out to a little over 100 people but within a month or so was being recieved by more than 4,000 people across the country, some whom Jim had never even met. Life's That Way is an edited collection of those emails, telling the story of that year of their lives as it was told during that year. As Jim tells the reader in the introduction, these emails were only edited for length and relevance; there was no hindsight added after the fact. They are Jim's thoughts and words as he wrote them at the time.

As you can imagine, at times this book was difficult to read and there were many tears shed as I was turning the pages. But this is truly a beautiful story. Jim opens up his heart and shares many of his deepest thoughts, fears, regrets and joys during this time period. I am extremely grateful he chose to publish them this way, five years after the death of his beloved wife.

This book isn't just the story of losing a loved one to cancer. Jim continues the nightly emails until exactly one year after he began writing. In the months following Cecily's death, you see Jim and Maddie embark on their new life together, Jim's struggles with being a single father and working a job that has him away for long days and just coping with simple day to day changes in their life. You see Jim's grieving process and how he was able to accept what happened and come to terms with his loss.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Whether or not you were familiar with Cecily Adams' work, whether or not you're a fan a Jim Beaver, whether or not you've also experienced the loss of a loved one to cancer. This book is a story of life. It's not just another celebrity memoir. It describes a family during it's most difficult time and shows that everyone, famous or not, faces the same struggles, emotions and problems as everyone else. We are all human. This book also shows how generous, caring and supportive people can be in a time of need.

This was an amazing story, not only of loss, but also hope. Yes, it will probably bring tears to your eyes, but sometimes crying is good for the soul. One thing this book will teach you is that you can't dwell on the loss and the pain, you have to move on, because, after all, life's that way -->.