Uncommon Grace

"Julian, I have a brain tumor."

Julian Schlusberg and his partner, Ort, were sitting on the couch in their den, when Ort made this announcement. And then Ort told Julian the rest of the story-how he went to the doctor for a flu shot and casually mentioned that he had been having dizzy spells. The doctor sent him for tests, and the results were bad-very bad. Ort had a large, aggressive brain tumor, a glioblastoma multiforme grade four that would cause his death within a year.

In the years since Ort's death, Julian has been a traveler on the grief journey. In "Uncommon Grace: Revelations in the Place Called Mourning," he recounts the life he has lived in those years. He has learned how brutal and merciless grief can be, but also how it can have the ability to alter our awareness and enable us to see and feel things we had never experienced before. Even in the face of insurmountable sadness and tragedy, it can lend some order to a world of heartbreak where nothing seems to makes sense. All of our sadness, anger, and frustration may ironically enable us to be more perceptive, insightful, and understanding.