Bar­ton Ruben­stein had a pic­ture-per­fect child­hood — a lov­ing fam­i­ly, idyl­lic sum­mers at the beach, and a par­tic­u­lar­ly close kin­ship with his pro­gres­sive, charis­mat­ic, and devot­ed mom. When she died after a bru­tal five-year bat­tle with can­cer, Bar­ton, just 18, found him­self con­front­ed by unbear­able heart­break. He was also sad­dened that his moth­er had not real­ized many of her dreams and was pet­ri­fied he could meet the same fate. This fear sent him head­long into a life of unex­pect­ed adven­tures and achieve­ments, feel­ing that tomor­row could be too late.

“Aching­ly hon­est, Bar­ton demon­strates in telling the unstint­ing resolve that com­pels him to strive for increas­ing­ly mean­ing­ful ful­fill­ment in his fam­i­ly, com­mu­ni­ty, and pro­fes­sion­al life. This remark­able nar­ra­tive is an inspi­ra­tion and roadmap for all.” – Dick Ander­son, cre­ative con­sul­tant, author of Solo: Ven­tur­ing Alone in the North­ern Wilds

“We see Ruben­stein’s pain, and his tri­umph. And in this way our­selves are con­front­ed with the tragedies and chal­lenges that make up all of our lives. – Bill Hut­man, for­mer jour­nal­ist and author of Con­ver­sa­tions: Think­ing about Talking