A deeply felt and humorous collection examining a year in the wake of extraordinary loss

In November 2010, on the morning after election day, Mirsky lost her three-year-old son, Lev. In the year that followed, she produced a profound and provocatively humorous body of work—tackling extreme loss as well as divorce, friendship, dating, sex, comedy, and art making, all while continuing her day job as a family liaison at the same children’s hospital where Lev died. Every November, the anniversary of Lev’s loss aligns with the churn of the election cycle.

A decade later, we find Mirsky in the heart of a different crisis: supervising COVID vaccine distribution in the polarized political climate of Austin, Texas. In “An Addendum,” she turns again to themes of grief and healing, this time on a societal scale, as she reckons with the tenth anniversary of Lev’s passing. Through her un-extraordinary story of extraordinary loss, Mirsky offers proof that there is an afterward to grief.

MICHELLE SUZANNE MIRSKY is an essayist. Her column No Fear of Flying: Kamikaze Missions in Death, Sex and Comedy began appearing on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency in 2011, and the final installment, “Epilogue,” was selected by Cheryl Strayed for Best American Essays 2013. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and son and their dog and cats.