2024-05-09
A man finds purpose and strength in becoming a father despite the challenges life throws at him in Weigel’s debut memoir.
When the author was in his 30s, instead of having life all figured out (as his father told him he should), he was desperately miserable. When Weigel was challenged to run a 5K race, it unlocked something in him that led him to mountain climbing, marathon running, and Ironman races, discovering a new passion. Soon after, he met Michelle, with whom he quickly fell in love; they married and weathered life’s changes before finding themselves expecting a child, whom they named Natalie. The author’s descriptions of being a father, and of what it meant to him, are particularly poignant when juxtaposed with brief passages about his own childhood spent with seemingly loveless parents who were incredibly hard on him and his sister, Laura. The narrative becomes more difficult when Weigel, as a father of a young child, is diagnosed with colon cancer. The author outlines processes, symptoms, tests, and treatments in time-stamped excerpts from the cancer blog he wrote as he underwent his journey. Here, the writing grows intense and more matter-of-fact, taking readers through the experience with Weigel and his family moment by moment, which is incredibly powerful (if occasionally uncomfortable). At all times, the author is honest and open, a remarkable feat for someone who confesses that he was disconnected from everyone around him. The book has three principal narrative threads: Weigel’s evolution as an athlete, his fight against cancer, and his path through fatherhood. They interweave throughout the text, all revealing his character—ultimately, the book suggests that he was reborn through the arrival of Natalie, when he “fell in love for the first time, unconditional, no judgment, no analysis.”
A hopeful story of resilience and determination to find one’s place in the world in the face of adversity.
