The Going and Goodbye

Cawood's essays explore love and its counterpoint loss. The reverse of romantic partnerships is rocky breakups and separations; marriage counters divorce; the reverse of friendship is loneliness; the contrast to good health is illness. The author shares what she has learned from her experiences of loss and reflects on the process that brought her to the end point. One essay delves into her nostalgia surrounding the futon she bought at age 24 and kept through many relationships, moves, a marriage, and a divorce. Something as central as a soft place to sleep takes on new meaning when Cawood revisits the people who sat or slept on the futon over the years. Other pieces contain deeper explorations: for example, friend Tsafi receives a cancer diagnosis and Cawood supports her through treatment, just as Tsafi once helped the author through difficult times. To be human is to be "going" about our lives, always saying "goodbye" to someone or something. Cawood stands firmly in the camp of "better to love and lose."