The Thousand and First Star Will Never Shine

Summary

My husband Jim clung to life in the ICU after a plane crash. I refused to sit by his bedside, and I flatly declined to sign his emergency surgery forms.

"Dad is dying! How can you just sit there eating?!" My ten-year-old daughter Annie slammed her hand down, knocking my rice bowl off the counter.

I only offered a faint smile. "Food is fuel. If I don't eat, how will I have the energy to bury your father?"

Clutching a glass jar of origami stars, her eyes swollen, she screamed, "Shut up! Everyone knows how much Jim loves you!"