The foundation for this book began in 1942 for Judy and in 1981 for Mia.
These are the years that our mothers took their own lives. In 1998, we met at a local group for women who had lost their mothers. We were the only ones whose mothers had died from suicide. We had each individually felt the need to write a book about our loss of mothers through suicide and to connect with others like us that we knew existed in the world. Meeting each other and sharing our stories was the spark that was needed to honestly and openly discuss what our mothers had done to our families, our lives and us. We wanted to explore what other individuals who had experienced parent suicide had to share as well. We began our book by creating our questionnaires for conducting interviews with participants, clergy, therapists and a first responder. We surveyed sixty-three survivors throughout the US and Canada. Of these sixty-three, fifty-seven participants chose to be interviewed. What is amazing to us both is the realization that without that single, life-changing event, we might not be the professionals, women, wives and mothers that we are today. The text of our book is strongly based on the surveys and interviews of our sixty-three participants, as well as our own testimonies. We also have interviewed a number of therapists, clergy of different faiths, and a retired criminal investigator who have all had experience dealing with survivors of parent suicide. In talking personally with almost each and every person, we have been inspired and encouraged to produce a book that will reach a diverse audience; not only survivors of parent suicide, but their families (including the surviving parent) and friends, any community member who might come into contact with them (therapists/counselors, mental health professionals, clergy and first responders), and hopefully anyone who might be contemplating taking his or her own life.