What's the greatest lesson your mother ever taught you? In this true story of love, loss, and learning, Dave Tank reflects on the stretch of turbulent years that carried him around the world many times over, only to return home in the most tragic of circumstances when his mother dies suddenly from an undetected cancer. Without his closest ally, Dave struggles to find happiness in an existence now void of purpose. Pushed to his limit, he walks away from a promising career to search for the joy and meaning his life is now without. In the streets of Paris and Rome, he finds joy-but still seeks meaning. At a loss for where to find his life's direction, Dave is guided to the answers by the most unlikely of teachers-his late mother. Through the journals she kept for the benefit of her children, she posthumously shares her experiences, her struggles, and her wisdom. This is the story of two lives and the year they became one. The Year of the Roses.