The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles: A Love Story

Description

Suddenly widowed and with two young daughters, author and journalist Laura Fahrenthold-Pitmann recounts her courageous and healing journey across the United States and Canada as she seeks answers to her loss and comfort in her grief. I'm Fine presents a moving portrait of life told with unflinching honesty about marriage, motherhood and mourning. Laura Fahrenthold-Pittman knew that to cope with her painful loss, she needed to do it on her own terms. So she bought an RV, took her kids and their dog, and drove across the United States and Canada in search of healing and understanding. A career in journalism fills I'm Fine with insight and wit as Laura shares her adventures and misadventures, her deeply-layered love story, and her hilarious slice of life dispatches during her 30,152-mile road trip.

Laura Fahrenthold-Pittman has had an unrivaled career in journalism during which she has interviewed more than 65,000 women as content editor at Woman's World magazine, worked as a crime reporter for the New York Daily News, and produced content for Bloomberg LP. She has hundreds of newspaper bylines and has won several Associated Press writing awards. When she isn't working, Laura is a mother to her teenage children, a PTA member, and a Girl Scout leader. Laura is on the board for the Bereavement Center of Westchester, and enjoys volunteering for art galleries. She resides in Hastings on Hudson, New York.

"How do you get past grief? Laura Fahrenthold drove through it with her two daughters, facing down everything from a hungry alligator to a broken heart while scattering her beloved husband Mark Pittman's ashes across North America-and then some. The story would be sad if it weren't so hilarious. And hilarious if it weren't so sad. In the end, they reconnect in eerie, unexpected and surprisingly moving ways." -Amanda Bennett, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative journalist "Laura Fahrenthold has constructed a jewel. We don't die anymore; we pass. The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles passes all understanding and, in its courage, gives us life everlasting." -Tom Keene, editor-at-large for Bloomberg News and host of Bloomberg Surveillance "The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles is beautifully written and profoundly moving. Read it and enjoy the ride!" -Karen Duffy, New York Times bestselling author of Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass and Backbone "In a memoir that is funny and heartfelt, Laura Fahrenthold lives with the grief of losing her husband-the love of her life and her daughters' father. Her humor and buoyancy invigorate their family's unconventional approach to mourning and carry the reader forward with a faith that even a relationship cut short by death can continue to sustain us." -Heather Harpham, author of Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After "Incredible. A brutally honest, fast-moving and ultimately transcendent book about love's life after death." -David Fahrenthold, Washington Post reporter, 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner "Most women, when they lose their husbands unexpectedly, are paralyzed by grief. Laura Fahrenthold-whose award-winning journalist husband succumbed to a heart attack on Thanksgiving Eve, 2009-got moving. With her two young daughters in tow, she decided to move forward-literally. She packed them all into an RV with a pink steering wheel and proceeded to drive across America and Canada, scattering her husband's ashes. The result? A journey of self-discovery and renewal, love and hope, punctuated with stops at Walmart and Costco. Go ahead: take the ride!" -Barbara Hoffman, Arts Editor, The New York Post "Laura Fahrenthold tackles grief and loss in the most American of ways, hitting the road in a camper with two kids, a dog and her dead husband's ashes. Courageous, brutally honest and observant, The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles is a classic road story of love and healing. It's also laugh-out-loud funny." -Barbara Barker, Newsday "Laura Fahrenthold takes us on the craziest memorial road trip ever as she scatters her husband's ashes around the country, her two daughters in tow. Her honest, moving, and often hilarious story makes for a sui generis grief memoir that will resonate with anyone who has had to start life over without a map." -Julie Metz, author of Perfection "A brave, put-your-heart-back-together-again book that's a lesson for all not to hide grief in dark corners, but rather to take it on the open road to celebrate life." -Valerie Frankel, author of The Accidental Virgin "The list of things we're never taught about, but should be, is ridiculously long. Birth, marriage, taxes and death are a few of the biggies. Take a lesson right now from Laura Fahrenthold, on loss and grief, and how to move forward, not just with courage, but also with humour. Revel in it, remember it, pass it on, and when you one day have to find your way through it, you'll be just a little better equipped." -Sue Fitzmaurice, author of Purpose "...remarkable not just for how Laura handled her husband's sudden death, but for the journey she takes us on afterwards .... A road trip of the heart. And a bright light for the road that lies ahead for all of us." -Bill Ritter, WABC-TV Eyewitness News anchor "Oh, the comfort that comes from finding a cherished object that belonged to your loved one! Laura Fahrenthold brings readers inside the discovery of her late husband's secret journal, a journey that brings her solace, joy, even much-needed laughter. I found myself staying up way too late to finish this remarkable book." -Allison Gilbert, author of Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive "With honesty and intimacy, Laura Fahrenthold recounts her love for her husband and her journey to spread his ashes after his untimely death. She gives parenting a capital 'P' as she teaches her children to adapt both on and off the road." -Libby Copeland, journalist for The Washington Post, Slate, and Esquire "Prepare to go from laughing out loud to sobbing uncontrollably when you read Laura's chronicles. As the captain of a recreational vehicle she named HaRVey, she navigates a 31,000 mile healing grief journey across North America with a pink steering wheel as her spiritual guide. The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles will undoubtedly become this year's 'you have to read it' book club choice." -Mike McNamara, CEO, Talent Blvd. "Laura Fahrenthold tells the story of her husband's death with unflinching honesty and a sincere vulnerability that makes you want to reach through the pages to hug her. She uses those same skills to tell the story of his death's aftermath, loading her bereft daughters into a used RV and crossing North American to spread his ashes in all the places they felt he'd like to live, from scenic vistas and national monuments to a potted plant and an ice cream truck. Along the journey, she teaches us about grief, motherhood, humor and strength, revealing that such great loss can bring with it surprising gifts." -Ellen Wulfhorst, Chief Correspondent, Americas, Thomson Reuters Foundation "Imagine a road trip with courage guru Brene Brown and Travels With Charley author John Steinbeck. The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles is that book: an endearing, put-your-heart-back-together story of loss and hope that leaves you totally in awe of the human spirit." -Robyn O'Brien, financial and food industry analyst and author of The Unhealthy Truth "The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles is proof that loss isn't just about endings but also, if you're lucky, about beginnings. Laura Fahrenthold perfectly describes what Buddhists call a bardo, a transition from one state of being to another. She reminds us that new beginnings don't come for free, but they do come. You just need the courage to get behind the wheel...and drive your way through it, one sprinkle of ashes at a time." -Dean Starkman, author of The Watchdog That Didn't Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism "Most people would just as soon drown in a pool of grief and self-pity after the unexpected death of a spouse. This author isn't most people. She chose reframe her remarkable husband's worldly end into a fantastical adventure and beautiful celebration of notable life in a most extraordinary and unconventional way. We should all be so bold." -Tara Wood, humor writer, social media influencer "For anyone who needs a road map with which to navigate heartache, this book is it. Laura Fahrenthold shows with laudable humor and compelling honesty that sometimes all it takes is an open heart, an adventurous spirit, two willing daughters, and an RV with a pink steering wheel to get there." -Helaine Olen, author of Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry and co-author of The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to be Complicated "'RV there yet?' The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles is the ultimate RV road trip. Reeling from the traumatic death of her beloved husband, journalist Laura Fahrenthold embraces her grief, packs up the kids, the dog-and her husband's ashes-and hits the road. Follow Laura's brave, heartwarming, and humorous journey across Canada and beyond, one adventure-and misadventure-at a time. A quintessential tribute to a life well-lived, and a husband well-loved." -Sandy Allen, Canadian Blog House "Fahrenthold's brutal honesty in the book is bolstered by a sarcastically wicked inner monologue that brings humor even to her most morbid thoughts and makes for an experience-packed adventure." -Jena Butterfield, WAG Magazine "...handles an emotional and challenging subject matter in a frank, often funny, way. Its guiding principle seems to be honesty." -Maddie Monroe, Toronto Beauty Reviews