Sing Me to Heaven: The Story of a Marriage
Peterson, Margaret Kim
Genre: Memoir
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Annotated by:
- McEntyre, Marilyn
- Date of entry: May-27-2004
- Last revised: Dec-14-2006
Summary
This story of love and marriage under the shadow of AIDS travels a couple's unlikely journey from meeting to courtship to disclosure of the male partner's AIDS, through a subsequent breakup, then a decision to marry, and four years of almost inexplicably happy marriage dogged from the beginning by the specter of death.
Over this time the couple has a chance to explore their respective understandings of the life of the spirit and for Hyung Goo to entertain and reject a number of avenues of comfort before joining his wife, a Presbyterian theologian and seminary professor, in her faith. Much of their short life together is lived in the context of intersecting circles of medical people and church community, in both of which they are active participants whose challenging marriage becomes a mirror and a lamp to their cohort.
Publisher
Brazos Press
Place Published
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Edition
2003
Page Count
224
Commentary
Written with clarity, simplicity, and emotional honesty, this book provides both challenge and encouragement for readers struggling with the many complications illness, especially terminal illness, introduces into love and marriage. The writer includes both practical and emotional particulars, making for a lively, convincing record of differences negotiated, tensions resolved, and grief that coexists with deep happiness.
One dimension of Peterson's experience is how it deepened and challenged her faith; never "preachy," she is interesting and thoughtful about the way these life-changing years left her with a more complex and mature faith. A remarkable story.