The end

Jennifer reflects on the days leading up to Jim’s hospitalization as she tries to reconcile how they went from a thriving couple living life to the fullest to residents of a cancer center. It’s here we learn the meaning of the weighty podcast title.

“Jim’s cancer took him so fucking fast! I’m desperate to understand what the hell happened, so I turn to capturing every single artifact from those days and studying them like a research scientist. I spend hours reading Jim’s medical records and comparing them to my notes and CaringBridge posts. Alternately, I look at photos and listen to music, bathing my soul in my memories of Jim. It’s agony to see him, to see us, in all our lovely life together. Smiling, laughing, making things, doing things. Loving each other, our kids, our friends and families. By the time I pull myself away, I’m in despair. Yet I press forward, reliving the brutality of Jim’s last 6 months. Piece by piece, I stitch together the evidence of Jim’s existence with the audacity of that Modern Prometheus, Dr. Frankenstein in an attempt to breathe life back into him - an act of defiance as well as love. I delve into this obsession with reincarnation like a crazed sorceress.”