Second Bucket List (eBook)

When a coffee mug slips out of Celeste O'Connell's hand and shatters on her tile floor, she realizes something is terribly wrong with her. The recent stumbles on the stairs, the deepening of her voice, the growing weakness in her right arm and leg, are part of a mysterious pattern of frightening changes in her body. Celeste is diagnosed with a terminal illness. She struggles to accept her fate and the loss of everything she loves -- her husband, her college-age children, her work, and the rugged, spectacular Montana environment in which she lives. She creates a bucket list and tries to complete everything on the list, but as her symptoms worsen she finds she cannot. A therapist helps Celeste transform her perspective on life and death, and she creates a second bucket list in the hope that after she dies her soul will return to earth in a new body.

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The Second Bucket List is a poignant and uplifting story about the emotional and spiritual journey of a forty-nine year old woman who is diagnosed with ALS. Celeste loves life -- her husband Ross; her college-age children, Darby and Ginger; her black labs and raucous chickens; and her new career as a psychotherapist. She loves the rugged mountains that surround her home in Gardiner, Montana, gateway to Yellowstone National Park. But her diagnosis forces her to face the inevitable loss of everything that matters to her. A startling dream leads Celeste to a therapist who helps her explore her dreams and long-neglected beliefs about life and death. Celeste creates a bucket list and tries to complete everything on the list but finds she cannot. As her symptoms worsen, she comes to accept her approaching death and creates a second bucket list, in the hope that when she dies her soul will return to earth in a new body. The Second Bucket List takes an unflinching look at what it's like to live with a terminal illness. It also offers understanding, comfort, and hope for readers whose own loved ones are struggling with a terminal illness.