To my dearest Mother,
I know that this will
be hard for you to understand at first. I beg you to be patient and
not to judge me too harshly. You, of all people, know how hard these
past few years have been for me. Since losing Sophie, my life has
been shrouded in darkness as thick as oil, each day filled with raw
despair. So desperate was I in those early weeks and months that I
couldn’t see any way out of that darkness and despair, far less
feel the loss of all those whose loved-ones were wiped out by that
awful epidemic. The helplessness of having to watch their terrible
suffering was made so much worse because I, a physician, was
incapable of doing anything at all. I cannot say that I have or ever
will recover from that experience and yet I must continue to live
somehow, with the hole that was once filled with the light that was
Sophie.
