Touching the Edge: A Mother's Spiritual Journey from Loss to Life

Magaret Wurtele exposes her wounded heart and brings us into her struggle in a way that can only be described as stunning. The writing is honest, spare and captivating, born of the stength of one who obviously knows what she doesn't like in writing, she painstakingly crafts the sentences to allow us to travel through this first year of grieving without obstacles or distactions.Most importantly, Ms Wurtele is honest. Her spiritual path is being crafted beautifully by a force that she dances with,with tenacity, integrity and awe.

Some time ago I came across an article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer that told of two young forest rangers who had climbed Mount Ranier to help rescue a stranded hiker. They were tied together and both skidded off the mountain to their death. It was one of those stories that sticks in your mind. When I came across Margaret Wurtele's book, Touching The Edge, I bought it at once and could not put it down. Margaret Wurtele, the mother of one of the young climbers, wrote with such feeling and clarity, that I, too, was touching the edge and came to realize once again the worth of the solitary individual in our world society.

I was given this book as a 50th birthday present by a dear friend. Ouch! I thought. Do I really want to read such a painful book? Planning to read it "later" I casually picked it up to read the beginning. I was hooked - I couldn't put it down. Margaret Wurtele has done an amazing job of opening up a very private window to let those of us who have not lost a child see what it is like. That curiousity compelled me to keep reading. Her honesty at describing her experiences is searing. But she places this experience within the context of the spiritual journey she had already begun a few years before her son died. But don't think this means she writes one size fits all religious platitudes. Far from it. The experiences she writes about ring authentically and nothing is sugar coated. She asks herself the hard questions and generously shares her most personal answers. The book is beautifully paced, bringing the reader along step by step with the author on this journey. There is no preaching, only listening and talking. I was moved and inspired by her story and I feel grateful the book fell into my lap.