Overview

Swerving to avoid a deer on a dark Wisconsin highway in early summer, 22-year old Gabe lost control of the car. His 29-year old brother Jonah, singing along with him as he drove, absorbed the full force of the impact with an oncoming pick-up driven by the Chief of a First Nation. The crash left Jonah with severe traumatic brain injury, Gabe with a broken femur, and soil samples, meticulously gathered for Jonah's graduate research project on agroforestry, strewn across the highway. As General Counsel for a Philadelphia medical center, I was competent to interact with my sons' care teams, but lost all semblance of professionalism when neither my legal expertise, search for a medical miracle nor tenacity of my love was able to bring benefit to Jonah. He lingered in a coma for three months before dying in hospice. I was left to find a way to carry on for the sake of Jonah's brothers while handling my own grief and helplessness. Immersing myself in Jonah's journals and memories of his extraordinary, spirit-filled life, my pillars of support materialized--meditation, yoga, prayer and sailing. With Jonah as my spirit guide in the bardo and beyond, I navigated pathways between terror and beauty that Jonah had spent his life seeking. ""Pine Melody"" is the result of my journey.

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Reviews

""Reading 'Pine Melody' is a journey through motherhood enduring the pains of loss and the astonishing calls from life to awaken again to inner resilience. Here memory is not tucked away, but brought into deeper focus and meaning of parent-son relations."" -John Grim, Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar, Yale University School of the Environment and Yale Divinity School ""I started reading 'Pine Melody' and couldn't stop. This is a luminous story of a mother's journey of loss, through her intricate love and connection to her son. Armed with rich spiritual tradition, her son's notebooks, poetry, music, memories and dreams, Stacey dives deep into dark waters to make meaning from the wreckage. She expertly weaves the story of her son's car accident and its aftermath with the whole of Jonah's life, the indelible mark he left on the world, and the way his love for the earth, humans and music continues long past his death. Knowing Jonah was a gift, and getting to know his mother's love for him an even greater one. Reading this felt like getting to spend another day with the most alive person I have ever known."" -MK Kaufman, former roommate of Jonah, playwright, TV writer, Area Head of Playwriting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts ""Love, devotion, grief, reverence, courageous strength--Stacey carries us. Sharing this intimate journey she bestows a sacred gift. I can feel Jonah's response to this beautiful, wise offering. He is singing--celebrating his beloved mother and the wondrous mysteries of life and death."" -Rabbi Yael Levy, Founder and Rabbinic Director of A Way In Jewish Mindfulness Organization

Author Information

Stacey obtained her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. She is a Certified Grief Educator and hospice volunteer. Stacey spent the majority of her career as General Counsel to Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and TJUH System. She also worked in private practice and as an Executive Coach to physicians and attorneys. A grandmother of three beloved granddaughters, she lives in Lambertville, New Jersey with her husband Christoph, a sculptor, and her German Short-haired Pointer, Luna. ""Pine Melody"" is her first book.

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