COLLECTED & CONSIDERED
Collected & Considered
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Cover of Until I Say Good-Bye

Until I Say Good-Bye

by Susan Spencer-Wendel

Biography & MemoirPersonal Growth & Wellbeing

Added to the collectionJuly 21, 2026

Selected Passages

Selected passages

To plant a garden of memories for my family to bloom in their futures.

Enjoyed the uncertainty.

Why worry? What’s meant to be was meant to be. That’s how my psychologist advised me to answer my children’s questions. When they ask, “Mommy, are you going to die?” I answer: “I don’t know what’s meant to be.” But of course I hoped

I wanted, in this last year, to close the loop with Mom and Dad. To heal the rift that had formed as I explored my birth parents, something that did not diminish my love for them. I understand now that that moment will not occur. We will not talk our way to understanding. It’s just not in their natures. And as ALS reminds me each day, you can’t fight nature.

Everyone should keep a list of the little things they love

“I am the master of my mind. I have a choice about how to feel,” I tell myself all the time. I have practiced this again and again over the last few years: the art of letting go.

Yes, I believe in miracles. But I didn’t expect a miracle.

Focus not on people who let you down, but on those who lift you up.