Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Dear Jeff: A Mother’s Reflections and Responses Throughout a Family Tragedy
    Dear Jeff: A Mother’s Reflections and Responses Throughout a Family Tragedy
    Dear Jeff: A Mother’s Reflections and Responses Throughout a Family Tragedy
    Ebook194 pages2 hours

    Dear Jeff: A Mother’s Reflections and Responses Throughout a Family Tragedy

    By Carmen Westberg

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In Dear Jeff: A Mother’s Reflections and Responses Throughout a Family Tragedy, Carmen Westberg shares the heartbreaking story of her son, Jeff, who received a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a farming accident at the age of 14. The story, told through a series of letters she writes to him, begins just before the accident occurs and follows their family’s journey from the ICU forward. 

    As Carmen comes to understand that Jeff’s life has changed forever and learns to navigate both the internal and external challenges that accompany his condition, she shares her reactions and emotions, memories of her upbringing, and the continuing history of her family. She finds a way to communicate with a son whose personality and capabilities have transformed in an instant, providing a window into a grieving mother’s mind and heart. 

    Dear Jeff is not only the story of a family’s perseverance in the face of TBI but also a comfort for anyone facing a similar tragedy—especially mothers. Carmen’s letters show that feeling confused and overwrought in the midst of a painful journey is normal. She offers the perspective and experience that families may need when their worlds are upended by trauma . . . and she reassures them that they are not alone.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGreenleaf Book Group
    Release dateApr 16, 2019
    ISBN9781632992222
    Dear Jeff: A Mother’s Reflections and Responses Throughout a Family Tragedy

    Related to Dear Jeff

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Living in a Way That’s True: The Millions Interviews Jaquira Díaz

      Feb 24, 2020

      I wish there was more writing about girls growing up in poverty. Queer girls, black and brown girls. I didn't have any books like that growing up. I went to a library and what the librarians handed me were books about white people written by white pe

      8 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Sejal Shah

      Dec 22, 2020

      Reading in the bathtub helped me get through many difficult times and years: since my twenties, it's been a reliable way to self-soothe. The post A Year in Reading: Sejal Shah appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      The New 2022 Nonfiction

      Aug 17, 2022

      The New 2022 Nonfiction
      13 min read

    • Article

      Eirinie Carson

      Aug 16, 2023

      Eirinie Carson
      3 min read

    • Article

      Long Way Home

      Jul 9, 2022

      My memoir in essays, detailing my life as an adopted, biracial Japanese American, began as my MFA thesis back in the early ’90s. My plan was to take a year post-graduation to polish up the manuscript, send it out to agents, and have it snatched up by

      7 min read

    • Article

      Appease the Spirit

      Jun 14, 2021

      Kat Chow has always been attracted to stories of loss, especially from communities of color that investigate the impact of this loss across generations. She explored such stories (and many others) as a founding member of the Code Switch team, a proje

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Savvy Self-Publisher

      Feb 9, 2017

      DEBRA ENGLANDER is a New York City–based freelance editor and writer. She managed a business-book program at John Wiley & Sons for nearly seventeen years and previously worked at Money magazine and Book-of-the-Month Club. She has written about busine

      10 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Mateo Askaripour

      Dec 14, 2021

      Looking back on it now, 2021 was a year that I learned what it meant to not just be a reader, or a writer, but also a literary citizen. The post A Year in Reading: Mateo Askaripour appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Megan Giddings

      Dec 16, 2020

      I wrote a letter to my congressman who said it was fine for people to die to save the economy. His office wrote one back encouraging me to cheer up. The post A Year in Reading: Megan Giddings appeared first on The Millions.

      10 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Chelsea Bieker

      Dec 21, 2020

      I still needed to connect to other artists even though I could not see them in person. I needed to support local bookstores, and I needed language that was not my own in a desperate sort of way. The post A Year in Reading: Chelsea Bieker appeared fi

      5 min read

    • Article

      Arinze Ifeakandu

      Jun 15, 2022

      Arinze Ifeakandu
      4 min read

    • Article

      Ghosted

      Feb 14, 2024

      IN OCTOBER 2020, I received an e-mail from a literary agent named A. who I believed would transform my life as a writer. Her message arrived after I’d spent two months querying literary agents regarding an autobiographical middle-grade novel about a

      10 min read

    • Article

      I Was Formed by What I Didn’t Know: The Millions Interviews Dani Shapiro

      Jan 25, 2019

      I didn't have the luxury of thinking, I’m going to write about this five years from now, after I’ve processed it. This book felt like it required immediacy. The post I Was Formed by What I Didn’t Know: The Millions Interviews Dani Shapiro appeared fi

      12 min read

    • Article

      Tracy Baines

      Apr 2, 2020

      Tracy Baines
      5 min read

    • Article

      It’s Kind of a Funny Story: A Conversation With Susan Jane Gilman

      Feb 3, 2020

      This past fall I was once again in Cincinnati’s Mercantile Library to hear an author speak about her new book. I went in with no real expectations—I hadn’t read any of Susan Jane Gilman’s books yet; I just take any opportunity to hear writers talk ab

      5 min read

    • Article

      Writing Partners

      Oct 10, 2018

      STEPH AUTERI is a writer and editor who has written about women’s health and sexuality for the Atlantic, VICE, Pacific Standard, Rewire.News, the Establishment, and other publications. She is the author of A Dirty Word, published by Cleis Press in Oc

      9 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Carvell Wallace

      Dec 2, 2020

      No wonder literary critics of the time panned the book. It did not pretend. A perfect thing for a book to avoid doing in a year in which for the very briefest of moments, and in the very slightest of ways, we could all see that the veil had been lift

      9 min read

    • Article

      In Books We Find Ourselves

      Jul 5, 2022

      I currently enjoy a miniature book club with five other women. My church placed nearly thirty of us into five different groups with the goal of getting to know one another better. Each group was tasked with trying to gather for different activities t

      6 min read

    • Article

      Books Are a Place to Put Your Feelings: The Millions Interviews Jami Attenberg

      Jan 2, 2020

      This book was about understanding what men like that leave behind, and how it impacts families and communities. The post Books Are a Place to Put Your Feelings: The Millions Interviews Jami Attenberg appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Dear Jeff

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Dear Jeff - Carmen Westberg

      3^book_preview_excerpt.htmlm[˒Fr^$W:ldž6ZRF21@V!G׀KB5yO_}o/w~^<^>Çĩ?/O__>| iIS<.qkXϘST}]u8x÷1L|y>Ū mKm5/aZ%Wy6ljkƶz~׍Oձb!8mw}T<3G>yqhnm16q!O.VM/ ßadm)0p7ژY*&xӡz(;*m#|if~5 OXа~Ko1jY@t 5b1MS>ŀ]쯑QgX3{LX&A+ O9 bup$Iyap/nRKskm^j<2+:.HTLfs90qi [ҴX{`Oi1l08&\07ӊ@8##b}0>u^Ӝ^G)<Z"-^jb;5 Dcn{u-V%I~Q !azseBy*v(x]vL}_,OVaܹQ b )*<zh/Lj#Կ:m ؤ O4٬{ _D|M0_Գ] bMvYje3ȩZksاjЋ/D*12>LZ@),[7&@,#-ꏶ@&G ĞAbz6q{PD;`r㚂Q L#]1/ %| C}p+ 6 lMtɿ! W$25YLlS7BZal@;3Ryl&vVnc֪zJ6.l3[4~E>Fd-:+b~ό޹')piϦqˌGCuBv͐)ZNHY"ts +88"f0m֚ߌgi23Z E+sacRc+dNЅt{D|,NCvaw*9,.16'[6h=}BHzZNOB2ʂq$>%lIӥdb1&ygkC߷ Wꘁ,*1O\f0H6%9j)g/Sbe[;g8fswW| Q*]Ji.ua#֞0Hﶀ1΀؆9`ӧ{&l`@hSH"1p7DiQ$qxQcѹ#\%~`o~*KVL)0X17zMSy=k6>`H%P4 U{.U>0'O~vd]UY3JF='rul鴠˙Sșr'eXǔu%v$r%J@J#q>h~ ǺB+㰈9>P;!JQt*UēiFKq;r8- ,pG4K*tիҠμuԀ^y? g[Mc5YWKXCЧ&$ҍ&,=^$8\,le W믾^(⃦sQQ{b*TEu1xbDQF T!D3ӅcI1 9j kHZ:E$E{*9fPBs4N@-,"lh4A/q50mqR (Kim~&Mt6iܩ:^wSjNҴBN\⫳b% |d}9<9,ѲgU` Ehiu!:'-]0`O\[#D=*PỮFJcG>B~f zdtjȨ ]NpEp3JlRdgDXZכ%x]" Y˦ߟ-Ruc>$LhpD3Bi̱?;]Irpߡ^t@M \(9MNi|R2jBxA%1\Wý$ !Ee[TÔ_4l6g;gσ?Qf"{X<5/Cm6e佄8hYsf7;{>YBjһL߁~3AdK9cod?@լ:`ukX\؛}-и7'>VDWd ϾwwNN(LZ%x#y%nGrbRuoE!~]!&egݩlDS&Lta 1^02*Ď.hOvRENY:oտl*յy)b~{jV@6蔬D1%/džSiTXWXƒf:sV`8& %5'ｨabZ#{~ݩ<43kZaQMD@_Vd 15<|ϥyh;h#-e\˒Gvåx%bf`^ § (daZ.Wӝ:vRTN \!ɃFVn:W+!;1[1pX v`!ݞ̒,:S8F">45WTx` |m2@c{[ymBp)pDءX8LEW!o3R4mtOyud5ݘ෽[DJ({"vxD8X7ɾ2  x+ aKZt\P`Z^G|զ !@Մ( 7~cquGޫMzu=W >"V}- (pc,]yNLhoy61}-z`R?N,`Ð7eƚ8|#ۮ_)?Eȇ1K !:8Ya<&M^ȝ^*AĔQGBmr #ٛEߠ>gKŻ:EdlB so#+XcގE`Ew3̶pQdPl ĩoM))سwBƆs@OKap?/{'o75cx$!Nc^ziZzj Vd?(K<(R{L!Lx,vl;~weT^mX*YcW {?J=EіEr̓&{rIcgu'l&N~Qw/ {XaLђ7;Țt'~9OaZ*G3rƣ9 gΖާ"j"!ǽ. td!AM085sZ;IӱrMd5t-x/zMC69lA=xUVzNp<_K5ܻ{=}UDj1s 8z 4mN&׽uccC/~@9׃ۋtؼhW+\ڿeX֩f ֤ }-{_؛Pi!a.䢬QYBoHc)^utd| (H-Wۍը.O.N"-FY4
      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1